LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


NAPOLEON'S    LAST   VOYAGES 


TWO   POSITIONS  OF  NAPOLEON. 

From  a  sketch  by  D.  T.  taken  on  board  the  "  Northumberland" 


Frontispiece. 


NAPOLEON'S 
LAST   VOYAGES 

BEING  THE  DIARIES  OF  ADMIRAL 
SIR  THOMAS  USSHER,  R.N.,  K.C.B. 
(ON  BOARD  THE  "UNDAUNTED"), 
AND  JOHN  R.  GLOVER,  SECRETARY 
TO  REAR  ADMIRAL  COCKBURN  (ON 
BOARD  THE  "NORTHUMBERLAND") 

WITH    TWENTY  ILLUSTRATIONS 


WITH  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES 
BY     J.    HOLLAND     ROSE,     Lirr.D. 


AUTHOR  OF  "LIFE  OF  NAPOLEON  I.,' 
"NAPOLEONIC  STUDIES,"  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

I53-IS7,    FIFTH   AVENUE 
1906 


r 

v 


(All  rights  resemed.} 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


INTRODUCTION.     BY  J.  HOLLAND  ROSE  .  .  -9 

NOTE  ON  THOMAS  USSHER.     BY  W.  H.  USSHER  .     23 

NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA       .  .  -27 

TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA       .  .  .  115 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Two  POSITIONS  OF  NAPOLEON,  FROM  A  SKETCH  BY 

D.    T.,    TAKEN   ON   BOARD    THE   NORTHUMBERLAND         Frontispiece 

NAPOLEON  AND  HIS  FELLOW  EXILES,  FROM  A  CON- 
TEMPORARY SKETCH,  MADE  ON  BOARD  THE 
NORTHUMBERLAND  .....  Facing  p.  9 

ADMIRAL  SIR  THOMAS  USSHER,  R.N.,  K.C.B.  .          ,,         23 

PORTO  FERRAJO,  ELBA     .  .  .  .  27 

,,  ,,  ,,       (After  Horace   Vernet)  .  ,,69 

ARRIVAL  OF  NAPOLEON  AT  ELBA  .  .  .          ,,          70 

A    BACK    VIEW   OF   NAPOLEON,    CONTRASTED    WITH 

Louis  XVIII.  .  .  .  „        103 

FRENCH  CARICATURE  ON  THE  TRANSFER  OF  NAPOLEON 
FROM  THE  BELLEROPHON  TO  THE  NORTHUMBER- 
LAND .  .  .  .  .  .  ,,  115 

CONTEMPORARY  FRENCH  CARICATURE   ON   THE   END 

OF  NAPOLEON'S  INVASION  OF  ENGLAND  SCHEMES          „        117 

EMBARKATION     OF     BONAPARTE     ON     BOARD     THE 

BELLEROPHON  .  .  .  .  .          ,,119 

NAPOLEON,  FROM  AN  OIL  SKETCH  BY  SIR  CHARLES 

EASTLAKE       .  .  .  .  .  „        121 

BONAPARTE    ON    BOARD    THE    BELLEROPHON,     OFF 

PLYMOUTH      ...  ,,        126 

"  BEFORE  AND  AFTER  WATERLOO."    A  CRUICKSHANK 

CARICATURE    .  .  .  .  .  ,,        147 

NAPOLEON  ON  BOARD  THE  BELLEROPHON        \.  .          ,,        150 

THE  ISLAND  OF  ST.  HELENA      .  .  .  •          ,,        220 

A  RARE  VIEW  OF  THE  BRIARS,   NAPOLEON'S    FIRST 

RESIDENCE  AT  ST.  HELENA  ,,        223 

THE   NEW   HOUSE   AT    LONGWOOD    INTENDED    FOR 

NAPOLEON       .  .  .  .  .  .          „        224 

LONGWOOD  HOUSE,  ST.  HELENA  .  .  .          ,,       226 

BONEY'S  MEDITATIONS  ON  THE  ISLAND  OF  ST.  HELENA. 

BY  CRUICKSHANK      ....  ,,        229 

THE  RAT  PLAGUE  AT  ST.  HELENA  „       233 

7 


NOTES   ON  THE   PRINTS   LENT   BY   MR.  BROADLEY. 

i.  Napoleon  and  his  Fellow  Exiles.     (Facing  p.  9.) 

A  copy  of  this  rare  print  was  purchased  as  "unique"  at  the  Edwin 
Truman  Sale  (May,  1906).  It  bore  the  names  of  the  five  personages  por- 
trayed in  it,  viz.,  Napoleon,  in  the  centre,  with  Les  Cases  and  Montholon 
to  the  right,  and  Bertrand  and  Gourgand  on  the  left.  Mr.  Broadley 
possesses  two  impressions  of  the  engraving,  one  in  black  and  the  other  in 
a  greenish  tint.  The  latter  is  inscribed  :  "  W.  F.,  drawn  on  the  passage  to 
St.  Helena."  The  head  of  Napoleon  is  almost  exactly  similar  to  that  of 
the  coloured  portrait  which  forms  the  frontispiece  of  Barnes's  "  Tour 
through  the  Island  of  St.  Helena"  (London,  1817),  stated  to  be  the  handi- 
work of  "a  highly  esteemed  gentleman  who  was  Passenger  from 
England  to  St.  Helena  with  him  (Napoleon)  on  the  Northumberland" 
Amongst  Barnes's  subscribers  the  name  of  "W.  Fowler,  Merchant  of 
St.  Helena,"  figures  as  taking  ten  copies.  It  seems  probable  that  he,  and 
not  Cruickshank,  was  the  author  of  the  "five  heads  "  print,  although  the 
latter  very  likely  etched  it. 

2.  A  Back  View  of  Napoleon  contrasted 'with  Louis  XVIII.  (Facing p.  103.) 

There  are  at  least  ten  varieties  of  back  views  of  Napoleon  associated 
with  the  period  of  his  exile.  The  view  now  given  is  rare. 

3.  French  Caricature  of  the  Transfer.     (Facing  p.   115.) 
This  is  exceedingly  rare. 

4.  Contemporary  Caricature.     (Facing  p.   117.) 

This  exceedingly  scarce  French  caricature  ridicules  the  practical  realisa- 
tion in  1815  of  Napoleon's  projected  (1797-1805)  descent  on  the  shores  of 
England,  under  the  segis  of  Wellington. 

5.  "Before  and  after  Waterloo"     (Facing p.  147.) 

George  Cruickshank's  caricature,  published,  like  No.  6,  in  August,  1815, 
contrasts  the  position  of  Buonaparte  on  the  I7th  June  to  the  I7th  July  of 
that  year.  It  is  somewhat  rare. 

6.  Napoleon 's  Abode  at  St.  Helena.     (Facing  p.  223.) 

This  view  of  the  Briars,  where  Napoleon  spent  the  first  weeks  of  his 
sojourn  at  St.  Helena,  is  very  rarely  met  with.  Like  No.  I,  it  is  en- 
graved by  Hassell.  The  tent,  erected  by  the  sailors  of  the  Northumber- 
land, figures  prominently  in  the  view.  The  inscription,  "  Buonaparte's 
Mal-Maison  at  St.  Helena,"  is  sufficiently  humorous. 

7.  Boney*s  Meditations.     (Facing  p.  229.) 

Mr.  Bruton  describes  this  print  as  "the  finest  of  the  caricatures  on 
Napoleon."  In  any  case  it  is  the  best  specimen  of  George  Cruickshank's 
art  as  applied  to  the  "  Last  Phase."  It  was  published  in  August,  1815, 
by  H.  Humphrey,  of  St.  James's -Street,  while  the  fallen  despot  was  still 
on  board  the  Northumberland.  The  parody  on  Milton's  lines  describing 
the  Devil  addressing  the  Sun  ("Paradise  Lost,"  Book  IV.)  is  sufficiently 
clear.  The  likeness  is  better  than  in  the  majority  of  the  St.  Helena 
caricatures. 

8.  The  Rat  Plague.     (Facing  p.  233.) 

There  are  over  thirty  caricatures  of  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena  in  which  he 
is  represented  as  tormented  by  rats.  Most  of  these  are  of  English  origin, 
but  the  one  now  given  is  French. 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  diaries  now  republished  in  this  volume  are 
of  great  interest,  whether  they  are  regarded  as 
historical  documents  or  as  revelations  of  charac- 
ter. No  man  who  has  emerged  from  a  whirlpool 
of  calamity  has  ever  been  more  closely  observed 
than  was  Napoleon  during  the  time  which  he 
spent  on  British  warships  after  his  first  and 
second  abdications.  The  opportunity  afforded 
by  the  voyages  to  Elba  and  St.  Helena  was  in 
more  respects  than  one  unexampled.  They 
formed  the  first  periods  of  rest  which  he  had  had 
for  many  months,  and  enabled  him  to  survey  the 
past  and  to  take  his  bearings  for  the  present  and 
future.  A  time  of  rest  at  sea,  especially  if  it 
comes  after  intense  mental  and  bodily  strain,  is 
highly  favourable  to  that  process  of  mental  stock- 
taking which  the  Germans  happily  term  "  orient- 
irung."  It  must  have  been  so  to  the  great 
soldier  and  organiser  who  for  many  months  had 


io  INTRODUCTION 

wearied  out  ministers,  prefects,  secretaries,  mar- 
shals, privates — in  fact,  every  one  but  his  own 
unweariable  frame.  The  change  from  the  cabinet 
or  the  camp  to  the  quarter-deck  was  one  of  those 
surprising  changes  which  loose  the  tongues  even 
of  the  uncommunicative  ;  and  Napoleon  did  not 
belong  to  that  unattractive  genus.  Further,  the 
regular  life  on  a  British  man-of-war,  and  the 
energy  shown  by  the  bluejackets,  were  certain  to 
prompt  in  the  great  captain  reflections  on  the 
gigantic  duel  which  he  had  waged  against  the 
Island  Power.  The  man  who  in  1804,  and  again 
in  1807,  had  caused  medals  to  be  struck  showing 
himself  as  Hercules  crushing  a  sea-monster,  could 
not  fail  to  be  deeply  impressed  by  the  signal 
reversal  of  that  pictorial  prophecy  which  he  now 
experienced. 

Not  that  Napoleon  was  prone  to  indulging  in 
day-dreams.  The  time  for  them,  perhaps,  had 
scarcely  come.  The  cloud-capped  heights  and 
drenching  rains  of  St.  Helena  were  better  suited 
to  that  mental  atmosphere  which  Lord  Rosebery 
has  summed  up  in  the  felicitous  phrase  "The  last 
regrets  "  than  was  the  machine-like  discipline  of 
a  warship.  The  character  of  the  surroundings 
may  have  occasioned,  at  least  in  part,  the  diffe- 
rence between  the  tone  of  the  reflections  here  set 


INTRO  D  UCTION  1 1 

forth  and  that  of  the  contents  of  the  doleful 
"  Journal "  kept  by  Gourgaud  at  Longwood. 
Both  recitals  have  the  unmistakable  ring  of  sin- 
cerity and  truthfulness.  Here  and  there  Captain 
Ussher  and  Mr.  Secretary  Glover  may  not  have 
caught  Napoleon's  words  in  his  rapid  and  not 
very  distinct  utterance  ;  but  the  diaries  of  the 
Englishmen,  like  that  of  the  malcontent  French 
officer  at  Longwood,  possess  one  great  advantage 
over  the  other  French  accounts  emanating  from 
St.  Helena — they  were  written  with  no  political 
bias  or  personal  animus.  Every  student  of  the 
"  Memorial  de  Ste.  Helene,"  so  cautiously  edited 
by  Las  Cases  after  his  return  to  Europe  in  1822- 
23,  and  of  the  Dicttes  and  Re  cits  which  Motholon 
gave  to  the  world  in  1846—47,  is  aware  that  those 
works  were  largely  coloured  by  the  desires  of  the 
writers  to  present  Napoleon  as  a  Prometheus 
chained  by  the  kings  to  a  desolate  rock  for  the 
crime  of  befriending  man  and  upholding  popular 
liberties.  As  the  late  Sir  John  Seeley  finely  said, 
"  The  curtain  was  rung  down  on  this  last  pose/' 
The  aim  of  the  draughtsmen,  as  we  now  see,  was 
to  favour  a  Napoleonic  revival ;  and,  thanks 
largely  to  the  Rdcits,  they  succeeded.  Those 
who  have  read  those  elaborate  political  pamph- 
lets, or  the  still  more  misleading  diatribes  of 


12  INTRODUCTION 

O'Meara,  now  have  the  means  of  correcting  their 
estimate  of  the  Emperor  by  a  perusal  of  un- 
biassed narratives  such  as  those  here  printed  and 
the  diaries  kept  by  Colonel  Neill  Campbell  at 
Elba,  and  by  Gourgaud,  Basil  Jackson,  and 
Lady  Malcolm  at  St.  Helena.  In  these  we  see, 
not  a  Prometheus,  not  an  idol  set  up  for  partisan 
purposes,  but  a  man. 

The  Journals  are  valuable,  not  only  as  his- 
torical documents,  but  as  revelations  of  a  very 
interesting  personality.  It  is  true  that  the  fallen 
hero  did  not  reveal  his  inmost  thoughts  on  the 
problems  of  life  and  destiny.  That  was  to  be 
expected.  A  sense  of  dignity  and  self-respect 
doubtless  led  him  to  keep  a  veil  drawn  over  the 
shekinah  of  his  being  ;  and  we  look  in  vain  for 
any  of  the  reflections  on  the  mutability  of  life 
which  would  have  furnished  the  fruitful  stock-in- 
trade  to  any  second-rate  Landor  who  might  have 
attempted  to  portray  his  feelings  on  the  Un- 
daunted or  the  Northumberland.  What  strikes 
the  observer  is  the  objectivity  of  mind  of  the  ex- 
Emperor.  One  is  almost  tempted  to  call  it 
callousness  in  regard  to  one  occasion  described 
by  Captain  Maitland,  of  H.M.S.  Bellerophon. 
It  was  during  the  transhipment  from  that  war- 
worn old  craft  to  the  Northumberland  off  Berry 


INTRODUCTION  13 

Head,  Devon,  when  he  joked  with  Mesdames 
Bertrand  and  Montholon  about  being  sea-sick. 
Here  we  should  have  liked  a  little  more  sensi- 
bility and  reticence. 

It  seems,  however,  that  the  ex- Emperor  had 
the  faculty,  common  to  many  commanders,  of 
excluding  at  will  from  his  mental  horizon  all  but 
the  circumstances  of  the  moment.  Or  the  inci- 
dent may  be  classed  with  others  which  illustrate 
his  eager  objectivity  of  mind,  his  delight  in  seeing 
new  sights  and  odd  situations.  There  are  intel- 
lects of  this  order  which  revel  in  facts  and  objects 
of  all  kinds.  Charles  Dickens,  though  utterly 
differing  from  Napoleon  in  all  else,  had  this 
mania  for  observation,  this  craving  for  visual 
details ;  and  his  mind  grated  on  itself  when  the 
desire  could  not  for  long  be  gratified.  Napoleon 
had  the  same  characteristic.  From  his  father, 
Charles  Bonaparte,  he  undoubtedly  derived  the 
restless,  scheming  faculty  so  prominent  in  his 
career;  but  from  his  mother  he  inherited  that 
matter-of-fact  tendency  which  I  have  just  noted. 
The  combination  of  the  two  types  has  helped  to 
make  Napoleon  what  he  was — the  most  fertile 
weaver  of  plans  known  to  history,  but  also  the 
hard,  determined  realist.  His  practicality  often 
screened  him  from  the  nerve-strain  to  which 


14  INTRODUCTION 

more  sensitive  natures  are  subject ;  and  it  helped 
to  sustain  him  during  the  voyages  which  he  made 
under  the  Union  Jack.  The  schemes  having 
been  cut  short  at  Fontainebleau  and  Waterloo, 
the  maternal  or  objective  side  of  his  nature 
asserted  itself  in  a  way  which  was  sometimes 
surprising  to  others  but  always  sedative  as  far  as 
he  was  concerned.  On  embarking  on  the  Un-^ 
daunted  at  Frejus  he  at  once  fell  to  noticing  every 
detail  of  the  ship's  equipment,  even  the  number 
of  boats  carried.  At  dinner  he  entered  into  the 
conversation  "  with  great  animation " ;  and 
throughout  the  passage  to  Elba  took  great 
interest  in  questions  of  navigation,  surprising 
Captain  Ussher  more  than  once — e.g.,  see  pp.  64, 
67 — by  his  knowledge  and  powers  of  observation. 
His  behaviour  on  the  Northumberland  was  at 
first  more  reserved  than  it  had  been  on  the 
Undaunted  and  the  Bellerophon  ;  but  the  habit  of 
mind  above  noted  soon  showed  itself,  with  the 
result  that  he  proved  one  of  the  best  of  ship- 
mates. Few  fallen  potentates  have  faced  the 
dull  void  of  their  future  existence  with  so  much 
of  serenity  ;  and  to  the  present  writer  it  seems 
that  Napoleon's  calmness  was  helped  by  his 
faculty  of  encasing  himself  in  the  present  when 
new  objects  were  at  hand.  Not  till  the  close  of 


INTRODUCTION  15 

the  voyage  to  St.  Helena  did  he  begin  to  sulk ; 
and  then  not  because  of  the  heat  (for  the  winds 
south  of  the  line  were  cool),  but  because  his 
observing  powers  had  by  that  time  sated  them- 
selves on  the  ship  and  the  ship's  company. 

Foremost  in  interest  among  the  topics  which 
he  discussed  with  Ussher  and  Cockburn  were 
naval  and  military  affairs.  The  account  which 
he  gave  to  Ussher  of  the  naval  campaign  which 
ended  at  Trafalgar  shows  his  remarkable  grip  of 
detail.  It  is  almost  inconceivable  that  after  nine 
years  his  memory  for  figures  should  have  been  so 
fresh.  In  the  notes  appended  to  this  edition  I 
have  called  attention  to  inaccuracies  or  misstate- 
ments  here  as  elsewhere ;  but  it  is  only  fair  to 
bear  in  mind  that  in  reports  of  a  long  conversa- 
tion (like  that  with  Captain  Ussher  on  May  9, 
1814)  the  mistakes  are  probably  due  to  the 
reporter  rather  than  to  the  speaker.  Indirectly 
this  conversation  throws  light  on  the  interesting 
question  whether  Napoleon  was  intent  on  the 
invasion  of  England. 

He  would  surely  not  have  remembered  the 
minute  details  of  his  great  naval  combination  of 
1805  na-d  it  been  designed  merely  as  a  blind  in 
order  to  lure  on  Austria  to  a  premature  attack  by 
land.  This  was  what  he  asserted  to  the  Council 


16  INTRODUCTION 

of  State  in   1806  (so  Miot  de  Melito  asserts),  and 
to  Metternich  when  ambassador  at  Paris  in  1810  ; 
but  those  who  note  the  enormous  extent  of  his 
preparations  on  the  northern  coast  in  1804-1805, 
as  set  forth  in  his  "  Correspondence,"  and   the 
retentiveness    of    his    memory,    even    of    small 
details,    as    proved    by    the    conversation   with 
Ussher,  will  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  he  did 
not  really  intend  to  strike  at  London.     Probably 
he  hoped  to  effect  a  landing  near  the  mouth  of 
the    Thames  (perhaps    on   the    Cliffe   peninsula 
between  Sheerness  and  Gravesend),  and  trusted 
to   a   speedy  march  on  the  capital,   and   to  the 
confusion  which  would  have  been  the  result.     It 
is  interesting  to  note  that  he  was  not  quite  sure 
what  he  would  have  done  next.      The  British 
Ministers,  we  now  know,  had  their  plans  ready 
for  that  emergency.     They  would  have  retired 
with    the    Court   and   the   national    treasure   to 
Worcester,  or  some  place   beyond   the    Severn, 
and  would  there  have  waited  until  the  communi- 
cations of  the  invaders  were  cut  by  Nelson,  and 
their   resources  exhausted   by  guerrilla  warfare. 
Another   topic   on  which    these  conversations 
threw  light  is  the  tenacity  with  which  Napoleon 
clung  to  his  schemes  for  the  creation  of  a  great 
navy.     The    opinion   prevalent    in    England,    I 


INTRODUCTION  17 

believe,  is  that,  after  Trafalgar,  the  Emperor 
gave  up  the  naval  game  as  hopeless.  The  in- 
correctness of  this  notion  will  be  seen  by  any 
who  will  take  the  trouble  to  read  Napoleon's 
voluminous  correspondence  on  maritime  affairs, 
especially  for  the  months  August,  1807,  to  June, 
1808,  and  September,  1810,  to  March,  181 1.  The 
fact  was,  that  as  long  as  he  held  Northern  Italy 
and  the  Netherlands,  his  resources  for  ship- 
building were  greater  than  those  of  the  United 
Kingdom ;  and  he  might  well  hope  to  overwhelm 
the  islanders  by  weight  of  numbers,  provided 
that  he  had  peace  on  the  Continent.  That 
opportunity  never  came  for  long ;  but  in  the 
months  named  above  he  thought  it  had  come  ;  and 
the  eagerness  with  which  he  pushed  on  his  troops 
to  Cadiz  in  June,  1808,  as  also  the  doggedness 
with  which  he  held  on  to  the  mouths  of  the  Elbe, 
Rhine,  and  Scheldt  in  1813-14,  enable  us  to  gauge 
the  grandeur  of  those  schemes  of  founding  a 
world-wide  Empire,  for  which  a  giant  navy  was 
an  indispensable  preliminary.  The  reader  will 
smile  as  he  reads  the  assertion  (p.  88)  of  the 
fallen  monarch  that  if  he  had  remained  on  the 
throne  he  would  in  three  or  four  years  have  had 
at  his  disposal  three  hundred  sail-of-the-line.  In 
his  conversation  with  Admiral  Cockburn,  fifteen 


1 8  INTRO D  UCTION 

months  later,  he  reduced  that  number  by  one 
half. 

But  these  statements  are  not  to  be  dismissed 
as  mere  braggadocio.  They  represent  the  pro- 
jection of  that  tenacious  will  on  events  which  had 
gone  awry.  To  Napoleon  the  natural  and 
inevitable  thing  was  that  France  should  be  the 
mistress  of  the  world.  Even  at  St.  Helena  he 
could  never  quite  understand  how  it  had  fallen 
out  otherwise.  It  is  strange  that  a  man  who 
viewed  objects  and  details  so  closely  and 
accurately  should,  at  least  in  his  later  years, 
have  failed  to  gauge  events  in  the  mass  at  their 
true  significance.  Was  it  due  to  a  want  of  that 
invaluable  faculty  of  projecting  oneself  in  imagi- 
nation to  the  standpoint  of  one's  opponents  ? 

Even  in  regard  to  details  his  judgment  was 
sometimes  at  fault — witness  his  remarks  on 
Waterloo  (p.  147).  This  is  the  more  remark- 
able, seeing  that  in  his  official  bulletin  of  the 
battle  he  had  correctly  attributed  the  final 
debacle  to  the  repulse  of  the  Guards  and  the 
onset  of  the  British  light  horse  (Vandeleur's  and 
Vivian's  brigades)  on  his  centre.  On  the 
Northumberland  he  merely  repeated  the  parrot 
cry,  so  prevalent  at  Paris  after  the  battle,  that 
the  defeat  was  due  to  the  treason  of  French 


INTRODUCTION  19 

officers,  who  have  never  been  named.  The 
statement  that  an  hour  more  of  daylight  would 
have  altered  the  result  is,  of  course,  absurd. 
There  are,  indeed,  not  a  few  statements  which 
illustrate  one  of  his  besetting  faults,  that  of 
mendacity ;  and  one  at  least,  that  in  which  he 
sought  to  slander  the  character  of  that  virtuous 
and  most  unfortunate  queen,  Louisa  of  Prussia, 
which  proves  him  to  have  been  lacking  in 
gentlemanly  feeling.  But  his  untruthfulness  is 
now  and  again  agreeably  relieved  by  frank 
statements  which  redound  to  his  own  disad- 
vantage. The  most  important  of  these  is  his 
unhesitating  assertion  that  he,  and  he  alone,  was 
responsible  for  the  condemnation  of  the  Due 
d'Enghien.  As  this  statement  exactly  coincides 
with  the  codicil  which  he  added  to  his  will,  it 
must  be  considered  completely  to  demolish  the 
clumsy  attempts  of  some  of  his  apologists  to 
fasten  the  blame  for  the  execution  on  Talleyrand, 
or  Savary,  or  somebody  else. 

Herein  lies  the  value  of  these  diaries,  that 
they  rank  as  contemporary  documents  of  great 
importance ;  they  were  penned  at  a  time  when 
Napoleon  (to  use  his  own  expressive  phrase) 
considered  himself  as  "a  dead  man."  The 
time  had  not  yet  come  when,  with  the  help  of 


20  INTRODUCTION 

Las  Cases  and  Montholon,  there  was  reared  that 
singular  fabric  of  statecraft  afterwards  termed  by 
Montholon  "la  politique  de  Longwood."  l 

It  remains  to  add  that  the  manuscript  of 
Captain  Ussher  was  received  by  the  publisher 
of  this  volume  on  May  28,  1890.  A  version 
very  similar  to  it  was  published  in  London  in 
1840,  and  in  Dublin  in  1841  ;  but  these  have 
long  been  out  of  print.  The  present  version 
first  appeared  in  magazine  form  in  1893.  ^  was 
issued  in  book  form  by  Mr.  Fisher  Unwin 
in  1895. 

The  "  Manuscript  Diary  "  of  Mr.  Glover  was 
received  by  Mr.  Fisher  Unwin  from  the  Rev. 
Octavius  Grindon  in  May,  1890.  In  substance 
it  is  in  most  parts  closely  parallel  to  an  "  Extract 
from  a  Diary  of  Rear-Admiral  Sir  George  Cock- 
burn,"  which  was  first  published  at  Boston  (U.S.) 
in  1833,  and  by  Messrs.  Simpkin  Marshall  &  Co., 
of  London,  in  1888.  It  is  needless  to  go  into 
a  minute  comparison  of  the  two  narratives.  At 
many  points  they  are  nearly  identical,  though  the 
Admiral  uses  the  first  person,  while  in  the 
narrative  here  republished  the  Admiral's  secretary, 

1  "  Notes  and  Reminiscences  of  a  Staff  Officer,"  by  Lieut. - 
Colonel  Basil  Jackson,  p.  160. 


INTRODUCTION  21 

Mr.  Glover,  naturally  uses  the  third  person  in 
describing  the  Admiral's  conversations  with 
Napoleon.  It  seems  highly  probable  that 
Admiral  Cockburn  dictated  his  diary  to  his 
secretary,  making  use  of  the  memory  of  the 
latter  with  respect  to  the  lengthy  conversations 
held  at  the  dinner-table  of  the  Northumberland. 
The  fact  that  that  diary  was  found  among  Mr. 
Glover's  papers  strengthens  the  supposition  that 
it  was  almost  a  joint  production.  Glover,  how- 
ever, certainly  kept  a  diary  of  his  own ;  for 
some  details  respecting  the  conduct  or  conver- 
sations of  Napoleon's  companions,  especially  of 
Mme.  Bertrand  and  General  Gourgaud,  appear 
only  in  his  diary.  The  parts  dealing  with  affairs 
at  Plymouth,  as  also  at  St.  Helena,  are  far  fuller 
than  in  the  Admiral's  own  narrative. 

Still,  it  is  clear  that  Glover  made  extensive 
use  of  the  information  which  he  appears  to  have 
written  down  at  his  chiefs  dictation  ;  and  this 
doubtless  accounts  for  his  prohibiting  the  publi- 
cation of  his  own  private  diary.  This  prohibition, 
so  consonant  with  good  taste,  obviously  could 
not  hold  good  for  all  time  ;  and  in  1893  Glover's 
diary  appeared  in  magazine  form.  In  1895  ft 
was  issued  by  the  present  publisher  in  a  work 
entitled  "  Napoleon's  last  Voyages,"  comprising 


22  INTRODUCTION 

the  diaries  of  Captain  Ussher  and  Mr.  Secretary 
Glover.  For  the  Introduction  and  Notes  the 
present  editor  is  responsible.  The  notes  to  the 
edition  of  1895  have  not  been  retained  except  on 
pp.  60,  61,  137-139,  228. 

The  thanks  of  the  Editor  and  the  Publishers 
are  due  to  Mr.  A.  M.  Broadley  for  permission 
to  reproduce  eight  engravings  from  his  very 
valuable  collection  ;  also  to  Messrs.  G.  Bell  and 
Sons  for  permission  to  use  engravings  of  "  Porto 
Ferrajo"  and  "  Longwood  House,  St.  Helena.'1 

J.  H.  R. 

PARKSIDE  GARDENS, 
WIMBLEDON. 
July,  1906. 


ADMIRAL    SIR    THOMAS    USHER,    R  X. ,    K  C.  B. 


To  fare  page  23. 


NOTE  ON  THOMAS  USSHER 

THOMAS  USSHER,  who  was  born  in  Dublin  in 
1779,  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  Neville 
family  who  settled  in  Ireland  in  the  reign  of  King 
John,  and  assumed  the  name  of  Ussher  to  per- 
petuate the  name  of  the  office  he  held  at  Court. 

Entering  the  navy  at  the  age  of  twelve  years, 
as  midshipman  on  board  the  Squirrel,  Thomas 
Ussher  was  nominated  acting  lieutenant  of  the 
Minotaur,  seventy-four  guns,  in  1796.  In  a  boat- 
engagement,  April,  1798,  he  was  shot  through 
the  right  thigh.  Thinking  his  wound  was 
mortal,  he  directed  his  party  to  retire,  and  then 
fainted  from  loss  of  blood.  The  French,  to  their 
honour,  treated  him  and  his  fellow-sufferers 
with  the  kindest  attention,  For  many  months 
Mr.  Ussher  was  obliged  to  use  crutches  ;  but  in 
June,  1799,  with  the  Pelicans  cutter  and  twelve 
men,  he  attacked  a  French  privateer,  Le 
Trompeur,  of  five  guns  and  seventy  men,  lying  in 


24  NOTE   ON  THOMAS   USSHER 

a  river  at  San  Domingo.  Although  the  odds 
were  so  fearfully  against  him,  Le  Trompeur  was 
boarded,  captured,  and  destroyed.  Altogether, 
while  attached  to  the  Pelican,  Mr.  Ussher  was  in 
upward  of  twenty  boat-engagements.  September, 
1800,  he  returned  to  England,  and  was  obliged  to 
retire  for  a  time  on  half- pay,  as  his  wounds  had 
threatened  to  produce  lockjaw.  April,  1804,  ne 
was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  brig 
Colpoys,  attached  to  the  blockading  force  under 
Admiral  Cornwallis  off  Brest.  The  fleet  having 
been  blown  off  the  coast  for  a  time,  the  admiral 
was  in  doubt  as  to  whether  the  enemy  had  left 
the  port.  On  hearing  of  this,  Mr.  Ussher,  of  his 
own  accord,  stood  close  inshore  after  dark,  and, 
lowering  his  gig,  a  four-oared  boat,  actually 
entered  the  harbour,  discovered  and  rowed  along 
the  whole  French  line,  and  obtained  an  exact 
knowledge  of  the  enemy's  force.  Arriving  abreast 
of  the  French  admiral's  ship,  he  was  descried,  and 
pursued  by  three  boats,  from  which  he  escaped, 
as  well  as  from  the  boats  of  brigs  lying  in 
Camaret  Bay.  The  Colpoys  joined  the  admiral 
next  day  with  the  signal  flying,  "  The  enemy 
same  as  when  last  encountered."  The  wound  in 
his  thigh  having  broken  out  afresh,  accompanied 
by  alarming  symptoms,  Mr.  Ussher  was  obliged 


NOTE    ON   THOMAS    USSHER  25 

to  resign  command  of  the  Colpoys,  but  was 
almost  immediately  promoted  to  the  command  of 
the  Redwing,  a  sloop  of  eighteen  guns,  his  claims 
having  been  backed  by  testimonials  from  Earl 
St.  Vincent  and  Admirals  Cornwallis  and  Graves. 
His  conduct  at  Aviles  had  already  obtained  for 
him  a  sword  valued  at  fifty  guineas  from  the 
Patriotic  Society,  and  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
receiving  from  the  crew  of  the  Colpoys  a  similar 
token  of  "  respect  and  esteem."  April  20,  1806, 
he  was  engaged  in  a  spirited  affair  with  a  division 
of  gunboats  and  several  batteries,  and  from  this 
time  until  August  19,  in  one  way  or  another,  he 
was  in  constant  collision  with  the  enemy,  continu- 
ing to  display  the  same  zeal,  skill,  and  enterprise 
which  had  already  raised  his  reputation  so  high, 
and  led  Lord  Collingwood  to  observe  that  "  he 
was  entitled  to  whatever  regard  the  admiralty 
might  be  pleased  to  show  him."  During  the 
winter  of  1814  Captain  Ussher  was  again 
stationed  off  Toulon,  and  in  the  following  April 
occurred  the  interesting  events  narrated  in  the 
following  pages.  He  died  June  6,  1848. 

W.  H.  USSHER. 


II 

M 

2    3 


Napoleon's    Last    Voyages 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO 
ELBA 

IN  the  month  of  August,  1813,  I  was  stationed 
in  the  Undaunted,  frigate,  in  the  Gulf  of  Lyons, 
with  the  Redwing,  Sir  John  Sinclair,  and  the 
Espoir,  the  Hon.  Captain  Spencer,  under  my 
orders.  The  latter,  who  had  joined  me  some 
time  before,  had  brought  me  letters  and  papers 
from  England  in  which  were  various  reports  of 
the  reverses  of  the  French  army,  and  of  the 
probable  downfall  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon, 
with  many  speculations  and  surmises  thereupon, 
and  hinting  at  the  possibility  of  his  attempting  to 
make  his  escape  to  America.  The  Courier  even 
went  so  far  as  to  insert  in  its  columns  a  minute 
description  of  the  Emperor's  person,  in  case  the 


28  NAPOLEOWS  LAST   VOYAGES 

attempt  should  be  made.  Singularly  enough,  I 
cut  out  the  paragraph  in  question,  and  wafered  it 
on  the  bookcase  in  my  cabin,  jokingly  observing 
to  the  other  captains,  who  happened  to  be  dining 
with  me  about  that  time,  that  they  had  better 
take  a  copy  of  it,  as  he  might  possibly  come  our 
way  ;  little  imagining,  at  the  time  I  made  this 
observation,  that  a  few  short  months  would  see 
him  at  the  very  same  table  at  which  we  were 
then  sitting.  The  Redwing  and  the  Espoir  after- 
ward returned  to  England,  and  I  remained 
through  the  winter  cruising  off  the  coast  of 
France. 

On  April  24,  1814,  about  ten  o'clock  at  night, 
being  five  or  six  leagues  from  the  city  of  Mar- 
seilles, in  company  with  the  E^i,ryalus,  Captain 
Charles  Napier,  then  under  my  orders,  my 
attention  was  attracted  by  a  brilliant  light  in 
the  direction  of,  and  seemingly  coming  from, 
the  town,  which  I  conjectured  was  an  illumina- 
tion for  some  important  event.  I  began  to  think 
that  the  Courier  might  prove,  after  all,  to  be 
a  true  prophet. 

Every  sail  was  then  set  on  both  ships,  and 
every  exertion  was  made  to  work  up  the  bay. 
At  daybreak  we  were  close  off  the  land.  All 
was  apparently  quiet  in  the  batteries,  and  not 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO   ELBA     29 

a  flag  flying  ;  nor  were  the  telegraphs  at  work, 
which  was  uniformly  the  case  on  the  approach 
of  the  enemy.  Everything  betokened  that  some 
great  change  had  taken  place. 

The  morning  was  serene  and  beautiful,  with  a 
light  wind  from  the  southward.  Eager  to  know 
what  had  happened,  but  above  all  anxious  to 
hear  (for  who  that  has  once  experienced  the 
horrors  and  miseries  of  war  can  wish  for  its 
continuance?)  that  peace  had  been  restored,  I 
sailed  in  toward  the  island  of  Pomegue,  which 
protects  the  anchorage  of  the  bay  of  Marseilles. 
To  guard  against  a  surprise,  however,  should 
such  be  attempted,  I  took  the  precaution  of 
clearing  the  ship  for  action,  and  made  signal 
to  the  Euryalus  to  shorten  sail,  that  in  the  event 
of  the  batteries  opening  unexpectedly  upon  the 
Undaunted,  my  friend  Captain  Napier,  by  whose 
judgment  and  gallant  conduct  I  had  on  other 
occasions  profited,  might  render  me  any  assist- 
ance, in  the  event  of  my  being  disabled.  We 
now  showed  our  colours,  and  hoisted  at  the  main 
a  flag  of  truce,  and  the  royal  standard  of  the 
Bourbons,  which  the  ship's  tailor  had  made 
during  the  night.  This  flag  had  not  been  dis- 
played on  the  French  coast  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  Thus  equipped,  we  were  allowed  to 


3o  NAPOLEOWS  LAST   VOYAGES 

approach  within  gunshot,  when  we  observed  men 
coming  into  the  battery,  and  almost  immediately 
a  shot  struck  us  on  the  main-deck.  Finding  it 
was  not  their  intention  to  allow  us  to  proceed,  I 
gave  orders  to  wear  ship,  and  hauled  down  the 
flag  of  truce  and  standard.  While  wearing,  a 
second  shot  was  fired,  which  dropped  under  the 
counter.  This  unusual  and  unwarrantable  de- 
parture from  the  rules  of  civilised  warfare  I 
resolved  to  notice  in  the  only  way  such  attacks 
ought  to  be  noticed,  and  determined  at  once,  in 
the  promptest  and  most  energetic  way,  to  con- 
vince our  assailants  that  under  no  circumstances 
was  the  British  flag  to  be  insulted  with  impunity. 
I  therefore  again  wore  round,  and,  arriving 
within  point-blank  shot  of  the  battery,  poured 
in  a  broadside  that  swept  it  completely,  and  in 
five  minutes  not  a  man  was  to  be  seen  near  the 
guns.  It  was  entirely  abandoned. 

I  now  made  sail  for  a  second  battery,  and  by 
signal  directed  the  Euryalus  to  close,  intending 
to  anchor  off  the  town.  Shortly  afterward, 
observing  a  boat  with  a  flag  of  truce  standing 
out  of  the  harbour,  I  shortened  sail  to  receive  it. 
On  coming  alongside,  I  found  she  had  on  board 
the  mayor  and  municipal  officers  of  Marseilles, 
who  had  come  from  the  town  to  apologise  for 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     31 

the  conduct  pursued  by  the  batteries,  intimating 
that  it  was  an  unauthorised  act  of  some  of  the 
men.  They  informed  me  of  the  abdication  of 
Napoleon,  and  of  the  formation  of  a  provisional 
government  at  Paris  ;  I  congratulated  them  on 
the  change.  I  assured  these  gentlemen  that 
with  regard  to  the  conduct  of  the  batteries  I 
could  have  no  hesitation  in  forgiving  all  that  had 
passed,  and  only  hoped  that  I  might  be  as  easily 
forgiven  for  the  part  I  had  taken  ;  that  to  prove 
my  confidence  in  the  honour  and  loyalty  of  their 
city,  I  should  anchor  my  ship  abreast  of  it,  a 
proposition  of  which  they  did  not  seem  very 
much  to  approve.  I  then  made  sail,  with  the 
Euryalus  in  company,  and  dropped  anchor  in 
the  mouth  of  the  harbour,  that  I  might  be  the 
better  able  to  take  advantage  of  any  circum- 
stances that  might  occur.  Captain  Napier  and 
I  then  proceeded  in  the  barge  of  the  Euryalus 
toward  the  land.  We  found  a  dense  crowd 
collected  at  the  landing-place,  who,  as  we 
stopped  to  inquire  for  the  pratique  officers, 
rushed  into  the  water,  and,  seizing  the  bow  of 
the  boat,  hauled  me  by  main  force  on  shore. 

Never  did  I  witness  such  a  scene  as  now  pre- 
sented itself,  as,  almost  choked  by  the  embraces 
of  old  and  young,  we  were  hoisted  on  their 


32  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

shoulders,  and  hurried  along,  we  knew  not 
whither.  I  certainly  did  not  envy  the  situation 
of  my  friend  Captain  Napier,  whom  I  saw  most 
lovingly  embraced  by  an  old  lady  with  one  eye, 
from  whom  he  endeavoured  in  vain  to  extricate 
himself,  not  using,  I  must  say,  the  gentlest  terms 
our  language  affords.  In  this  way  we  arrived  at 
the  hotel  de  ville,  amid  loud  cries  of  "  Vive  les 
Anglais ! "  I  We  were  here  received  by  our 
friends  who  had  come  with  the  flag  of  truce  in 
the  morning,  but  who  were  evidently  not  pre- 
pared for  such  a  visit  from  us  now.  Indeed, 
under  other  circumstances  we  should  not  have 
been  justified  in  appearing  there  as  we  did. 
Conscious,  however,  that  we  had  no  infectious 
disease  on  board,  and  as  we  had  not  visited  any 
part  of  the  Mediterranean  where  the  plague  pre- 
vailed, we  endeavoured  to  quiet  their  fears,  and 
to  satisfy  them  that  no  danger  was  to  be  appre- 
hended from  our  visit. 

However,  this  infringement  of  their  sanitary 
laws,  the  observance  of  which  they  consider  so 
essential  to  their  safety,  they  appeared  to  feel 

1  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  South  of  France, 
especially  Provence,  was  royalist  and  anti-Napoleonic  in 
sentiment.  See  "  La  Terreur  Blanche,"  by  E.  Daudet, 
(Paris,  1906).— J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     33 

deeply,  though  I  gave  them  every  assurance  of 
the  healthy  state  of  the  ships.  Besides,  as  I 
observed,  it  was  no  acts  of  ours,  but  had  been 
forced  upon  us  by  themselves,  and  under  cir- 
cumstances which  we  could  not  very  well  control. 
They  said  there  was  no  previous  instance  of  their 
sanitary  laws  having  been  violated,  except  by 
Napoleon  when  he  landed  from  Egypt.1  They 
then  invited  us,  with  true  French  politeness,  into 
the  maison  de  ville,  remarking  at  the  same  time 
how  much  their  city  had  suffered  in  the  reign 
of  Louis  XIV.  from  the  dreadful  plague.  A 
magnificent  picture  by  David,  showing  some  of 
the  horrors  of  that  visitation,  hung  in  one  of  the 
principal  rooms  of  the  building. 

They  now  politely  requested  us  to  wait  upon 
the  general  in  command.  We  found  that  officer 
attending  high  mass  at  the  cathedral,  and  it  is 
hardly  possible  to  describe  his  astonishment,  and 
the  excitement  caused  by  seeing  two  British 
naval  officers,  in  their  uniforms,  in  the  midst 
of  the  congregation.  I  went  up  to  the  general, 
who  received  me  with  much  apparent  cordiality, 
and  with  considerable  tact  (for  we  were  at  that 

1  Bonaparte,  on  landing  at  Frejus  on  October  9,  1799, 
was  carried  ashore  shoulder-high  by  the  people,  in  defiance 
of  the  sanitary  officers. — J.  H.  R. 

3 


34  NAPOLEOJSTS  LAST   VOYAGES 

time  the  greater  "  lion  "  of  the  two)  invited  us 
to  join  the  procession  (I  think  it  was  that  of  the 
Virgin),  for  which  preparations  had  been  made, 
and  which  was  about  to  set  out  from  the  church 
where  we  then  were. 

The  streets  through  which  we  passed  were 
excessively  crowded,  so  much  so  that  it  was  with 
the  utmost  difficulty  the  procession  could  make 
its  way  at  all.  The  predominance  of  old  people 
and  children  among  the  crowd  was  remarkable. 
Commenting  upon  this  to  some  of  the  municipal 
officers,  I  was  told  that  this  was  caused  by  the 
conscription,  which  had  swept  off  without  dis- 
tinction (like  another  plague)  all  the  young  men 
who  were  capable  of  bearing  arms,  causing  in- 
describable misery  not  only  here,  but  everywhere 
throughout  France.  Happy,  indeed,  were  these 
poor  people  at  seeing  us  among  them,  the  har- 
bingers of  peace,  which  many  of  them  had  so 
long  and  ardently  desired.  That  this  was  the 
prevailing  feeling  among  them  their  whole  de- 
meanour amply  testified,  as  with  loud  vociferations 
of  "  Vive  les  Anglais  /"  they  plainly  told  us  that 
we  were  not  unwelcome  visitors. 

On  arriving  near  the  general's  house,  we  were 
invited  to  take  some  refreshments,  which  we  did ; 
but  the  populace  outside  were  very  impatient, 


NAPOLEONS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     35 

and  were  not  satisfied  until  we  again  appeared 
among  them.  I  now  began  to  reflect  on  the 
singular  and  difficult  circumstances  in  which  I 
was  placed,  and  the  responsibility  I  was  incurring, 
being  positively  without  any  information  on 
which  I  could  rely  as  to  the  state  of  affairs 
outside  of  Marseilles.  Nevertheless,  as  I  knew 
the  ships  were  prepared  for  any  emergency  that 
might  happen,  and  in  the  hand  of  Lieutenant 
Hastings,  my  first  lieutenant,  in  whose  zeal  and 
gallantry  I  had  the  greatest  possible  confidence, 
I  did  not  think  there  was  much  cause  for  ap- 
prehension, come  what  might.  I  had  an  idea, 
indeed,  that  this  enthusiasm  would  not  last. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  rejoicing,  I  received  a 
communication  from  the  commandant  of  the  town, 
informing  me  that  he  had  been  instructed  by  his 
superior,  the  governor  of  Toulon,  and  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  district,  to  order  us  to  our  ships, 
and  to  allow  of  no  further  communication  except- 
ing by  flags  of  truce.  I  replied  to  this  somewhat 
insolent  mandate  by  declaring  my  determination 
to  remain  where  I  was,  telling  the  commandant 
pretty  plainly  that  I  should  not  comply  with  the 
orders.  I  knew  my  strength,  and  that  the  ships, 
by  their  position,  had  the  entire  command  of 
the  town. 


36  NAPOLEONS  LAST  VOYAGES 

The  governor  then  intimated  that  he  would 
march  3,000  men  against  the  town  ;  for  this  also 
I  was  prepared.  During  this  angry  discussion, 
Colonel  Campbell,1  the  English  commissioner, 
arrived,  bringing  with  him  the  following  very 
important  note  : 

"  MARSEILLES,  April  25,  1814.  8  P.M. 
"  SIR, — I  have  the  honour  to  acquaint  you  that 
Lord  Viscount  Castlereagh,  His  Majesty's  Prin- 
cipal Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  has 
charged  me  with  a  mission  to  accompany  the 
late  chief  of  the  French  Government,  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  to  the  isle  of  Elba,  to  whose  secure 
asylum  in  that  island  it  is  the  wish  of  His  Royal 
Highness,  the  Prince  Regent,  to  afford  every 
facility  and  protection.  Having  afterward  written 
to  his  Lordship  that  Napoleon  had  requested  that 
a  British  ship-of-war  might  be  given  to  him  as  a 
convoy  to  the  French  corvette,  and  at  his  option 

1  Colonel  Sir  Neil  Campbell  was  descended  from  the 
Campbells  of  Duntroon,  a  younger  branch  of  the  House  of 
Argyll.  He  entered  the  army  in  1797,  and  during  the  years 
1 808-10  served  with  credit  in  the  West  Indies.  He  after- 
wards distinguished  himself  in  the  Peninsular  War,  and  there- 
after did  good  service  to  the  allies  in  the  campaigns  of  1813-14 
in  Central  Europe  and  France :  he  was  badly  wounded  at  the 
fight  of  Le  Fere  Champenoise  (March  25,  1814). — J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEONS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     37 

for   embarkation,    in   case   of    preferring   it,    his 
Lordship  wrote  to  me  as  follows  : 

"  Dated  PARIS,  April  18. 

" '  My  instructions  furnish  you  with  authority 
to  call  upon  His  Majesty's  officers,  by  sea  and 
land,  to  give  all  due  fidelity  and  assistance  to 
the  execution  of  the  service  with  which  you  are 
entrusted.  I  cannot  foresee  that  any  enemy  can 
molest  the  French  corvette  on  board  of  which 
it  is  proposed  Napoleon  shall  proceed  to  his 
destination.  If,  however,  he  shall  continue  to 
desire  it,  you  are  authorised  to  call  upon  any  of 
His  Majesty's  cruisers  (so  far  as  the  public 
service  may  not  be  prejudiced)  to  see  him  safe 
to  the  island  of  Elba.1  You  will  not,  however, 
suffer  this  arrangement  to  be  a  cause  of  delay.' 

"  Napoleon  has  since  his  departure  from  Fon- 
tainebleau  toward  St.  Tropez  pressed  me  to 
proceed  here  for  this  object,  which  I  beg  leave 

1  The  choice  of  the  Island  of  Elba  for  Napoleon's 
residence  was  due  almost  entirely  to  the  Czar  Alexander  I. 
The  other  potentates  and  their  plenipotentiaries  pointed  out 
the  risk  of  leaving  Napoleon  so  near  to  Italy,  where  he  was 
still  popular;  but  the  Czar  almost  pledged  himself  for 
Napoleon's  good  behaviour  at  Elba;  and  a  clause  of  the 
Treaty  of  Fontainebleau  (April  n)  established  him  there  with 
the  title  of  Emperor.— J.  H.  R. 


38  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

to  submit  to  your  consideration,  hoping  that, 
as  the  desire  to  proceed  immediately  to  his 
destination  is  in  unison  with  that  of  the  Allied 
Powers,  which  would  be  defeated  by  delay,  in 
referring  to  the  admiral  commanding  His  Bri- 
tannic Majesty's  fleet,  you  will  find  yourself  at 
liberty  to  proceed  to  St.  Tropez  with  His 
Majesty's  ship  under  your  command.  I  have 
the  honour  to  be,  sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  NEIL  CAMPBELL,  Col. 

"Attached  to  the  Mission  of  H.  E.  General 
Viscount  Cathcart. 

"  To  CAPTAIN  USSHER, 

"  Senior  Officer  of  his  Britannic  Majesty's 
ships  off  Marseilles." 

I  immediately  waited  upon  Colonel  Campbell, 
who  informed  me  that  he  had  left  Napoleon  on 
the  road,  pursuing  his  journey  to  St.  Tropez, 
from  which  place  it  had  been  arranged  he 
was  to  embark,  accompanied  by  the  envoys 
of  the  allied  sovereigns.  I  immediately  made 
arrangements  for  quitting  the  harbour  of  Mar- 
seilles, and  on  the  following  morning  (April  26) 


NAPOLEON >S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     39 

set  sail  for  St.  Tropez,  leaving  Captain  Napier  in 
command  of  the  station. 

On  arriving  off  St.  Tropez,  we  hoisted  a  red 
flag  at  the  main,  that  being  the  distinguishing 
signal  agreed  upon  with  Colonel  Campbell  at 
Marseilles.  A  boat  immediately  came  out  of 
the  harbour  with  a  lieutenant  from  the  French 
frigate  Dryade  (commanded  by  the  Comte  de 
Montcabri),  which  was  lying  there  with  the 
corvette  Victorieuse.  The  Comte  sent  his  lieu- 
tenant to  inform  me  that  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
had  abdicated,  and  that  the  Comte  de^Montcabri 
had  orders  from  the  provisional  Government 
to  remain  at  St.  Tropez  with  the  Victorieuse  for 
the  purpose  of  conducting  the  Emperor  to  the 
island  of  Elba,  the  sovereignty  of  which  island 
had  been  guaranteed  to  him  by  the  allied 
sovereigns  (it  now  struck  me  that  the  red  flag 
at  the  main  was  considered  in  war  a  signal  of 
defiance).  At  this  moment  a  boat  came  along- 
side with  an  Austrian  officer,  Major  Sinclair, 
despatched  from  Frejus  by  Colonel  Campbell, 
to  inform  me  that  at  the  particular  request  of  the 
Emperor  the  commissioners  of  the  allied  sove- 
reigns had  thought  proper  to  change  the  place 
of  embarkation,  and  requesting  me  to  proceed  to 
F  re*  jus. 


40  NAPOLEONS  LAST    VOYAGES 

Frejus  is  an  open  roadstead  five  or  six  leagues 
to  the  North  of  St.  Tropez.  Here  it  was  that 
Napoleon  landed  on  his  return  from  Egypt. 
On  arriving  at  the  anchorage,  I  received  a  note 
from  Colonel  Campbell,  informing  me  that  horses 
had  been  sent  down  from  the  town,  and  an 
orderly  sergeant  placed  at  my  disposal,  to  carry 
on  any  communications  with  the  town,  which 
lies  on  a  height  three  or  four  miles  from  the 
anchorage.  I  took  advantage  of  this  convey- 
ance, and  immediately  waited  on  Colonel  Camp- 
bell, who,  although  suffering  severely  from  his 
wounds,  immediately  accompanied  me  to  the 
"  Chapeau  Rouge,"  a  small  auberge,  or  hotel 
(and,  I  believe,  the  only  one  in  Frejus),  where 
Napoleon  was  lodged.  Whatever  my  previous 
feelings  might  have  been  toward  this  the  most 
powerful  and  constant  enemy  my  country  ever 
had  to  contend  with,  I  am  proud  to  confess  that 
all  resentment  and  uncharitable  feeling  vanished 
quickly,  and  I  felt  all  the  delicacy  of  the  situation 
in  which  circumstances  ,the  most  extraordinary 
had  placed  me.  His  faithful  follower  in  adversity, 
Comte  Bertrand,1  was  in  attendance,  and,  having 

1  Comte  Bertrand  (1770-1844),  distinguished  as  a  General 
under  Napoleon,  especially  at  Hanau  (November,  1813).  He 
was,  above  all,  noted  for  his  fidelity  to  his  master  in  and  after 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION   TO  ELBA     41 

announced  Colonel  Campbell  and  myself,  imme- 
diately presented  us  to  the  Emperor. 

Napoleon  was  dressed  in  the  regimentals  of 
the  Old  Guard,  and  wore  the  star  of  the  Legion 
of  Honour.  He  walked  forward  to  meet  us, 
with  a  book  open  in  his  hand,  to  which  he  occa- 
sionally referred  when  asking  me  questions  about 
Elba  and  the  voyage  thither.  He  received  us 
with  great  condescension  and  politeness ;  his 
manner  was  dignified,  but  he  appeared  to  feel  his 
fallen  state.  Having  asked  me  several  questions 
regarding  my  ship,  he  invited  us  to  dine  with  him, 
upon  which  we  retired.  Shortly  afterwards  I  was 
waited  upon  by  Comte  Bertrand,  who  presented 
us  with  lists  of  the  baggage,  carriages,  horses, 
&c.,  belonging  to  the  Emperor.  I  immediately 
made  arrangements  for  receiving  them,  and  then 
demanded  an  interview  with  the  several  envoys 
of  the  allied  sovereigns,  feeling  that,  being  placed 
in  a  position  of  such  peculiar  responsibility  and 
delicacy,  it  was  necessary  to  hear  from  them  the 
instructions  they  had  received  from  their  respec- 
tive sovereigns,  that  I  might  shape  my  conduct 
accordingly,  and  particularly  that  I  might  learn 
from  them  what  ceremony  was  to  be  observed 

the  first  and  second  abdications  (1814  and  1815).     He  was 
not  a  man  of  culture  or  of  mental  power. — J.  H.  R. 


42  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

at  Napoleon's  embarkation,  and  on  arriving  on 
board  the  Undaunted,  as  I  was  desirous  to  treat 
him  with  that  generosity  toward  a  fallen  enemy 
which  is  ever  congenial  to  the  spirit  and  feelings 
of  Englishmen.  They  informed  me  that  their 
instructions  were  precise  and  positive,  and  that  he 
was  styled  by  the  treaty  of  Fontainebleau,  Emperor 
and  Sovereign  of  the  island  of  Elba.  I  still 
entertained  doubts  as  to  the  propriety  of  receiving 
him  with  a  royal  salute,  but  Colonel  Campbell,  in 
order  to  remove  every  doubt  on  the  subject, 
showed  me  Lord  Castlereagh's  instructions  to 
him,  which  were  conclusive. 

I  now  gave  orders  to  embark  the  Emperor's 
baggage,  carriages,  horses,  &c.  The  Dryade 
and  the  Victorieuse  soon  after  arrived  in  the 
roads,  and  anchored.  On  landing,  the  Comte 
de  Montcabri  expressed  his  surprise  to  my  first 
lieutenant  on  seeing  the  baggage  going  on  board. 
But  on  being  presented  to  the  Emperor  shortly 
after,  and  learning  his  intention  of  embarking  on 
board  the  Undaunted,  he  returned  to  his  ship, 
and  sailed  out  of  the  bay,  in  company  with  the 
Victorieuse.  The  Victorieuse,  I  was  given  to 
understand,  was  to  have  remained  at  Elba  in 
the  Emperor's  service. 

The  party  at  table  consisted  of  Prince  Schoo- 


NAPOLEONS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     43 

valof,  Russian  envoy  ;  Baron  Roller,1  Austrian 
envoy  ;  Comte  Truxos,  Prussian  envoy,  and  our 
envoy,  Colonel  Campbell ;  Comte  Clam,  aide-de- 
camp to  Prince  Schwarzenberg ;  Comte  Bertrand, 
Drouot,2  and  I.  The  Emperor  did  not  appear 
at  all  reserved,  but,  on  the  contrary,  entered 
freely  into  conversation,  and  kept  it  up  with 
great  animation.  He  appeared  to  show  marked 
attention  to  Baron  Roller,  who  sat  on  his  right 
hand.  Talking  of  his  intention  of  building  a 
large  fleet,  he  referred  to  the  Dutch  navy,  of 
which  he  had  formed  a  very  mean  opinion ;  he 
said  that  he  had  improved  their  navy  by  sending 
able  naval  architects  to  Holland,  and  that  he  had 
built  some  fine  ships  there.  The  Austerlitz,  he 
said,  was  one  of  the  finest  ships  in  the  world. 
In  speaking  of  her,  he  addressed  himself  to 
Prince  Schoovalof,  who  did  not  seem  to  like 
the  reference.  The  Emperor  said  the  only  use 
he  could  make  of  the  old  Dutch  men-of-war  was 

1  Baron   Roller,   Lieut.-General,  and  aide-de-camp  of  the 
Austrian  army. 

2  Drouot  (1774-1847),  son  of  a  baker  at  Nancy,  soon  came 
to  the  front  in  the  revolutionary  wars,  distinguishing  himself 
at  Wagram,  Borodino,  Liitzen,  and  Bautzen.     At  the  close  of 
1813  he  became  aide-de-camp  to  Napoleon  and  aide-major  of 
the  Imperial  Guard.    He  was  of  a  modest,  reserved  disposition, 
noted  for  his  honesty  and  trustworthiness. — J.  H.  R. 


44  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

to  fit  them  to  carry  horses  to  Ireland.1  He  talked 
of  the  Elbe  ;  said  the  importance  of  this  river 
was  but  little  known,  that  the  finest  timber  for 
ship-building  could  be  brought  there  at  a  small 
expense  from  Poland,  &c. 

I  slept  this  night  at  Frejus,  and  was  awakened 
at  four  in  the  morning  by  two  of  the  principal 
inhabitants,  who  came  into  my  room  to  implore 
me  to  embark  the  Emperor  as  quickly  as  possible, 
intelligence  having  been  received  that  the  army 
of  Italy,  lately  under  the  command  of  Eugene 
Beauharnais,  was  broken  up  ;  that  the  soldiers 
were  entering  France  in  large  bodies,  and  were  as 
devoted  as  ever  to  their  chief.2  These  gentlemen 
were  afraid  the  Emperor  might  put  himself  at 
their  head.  I  told  them  I  had  no  more  to  do 
with  embarking  the  Emperor  than  they  had, 
and  requested  them  to  make  known  their  fears 

1  This  explains  why  so  often  in  his  naval  plans  of  1804-1805 
Napoleon  arranged  for  an  expedition  to  Ireland  to  set  out  from 
Dutch  and  Flemish  ports.     In  justice  to  the  Dutch  seamen  it 
should  be  remembered  that  their  navy  had  been  ruined  in  his 
service,  and  that,  especially   after  Camperdown,  they  fought 
unwillingly  for  him.     See,  too,  Napoleon's  reference   to   the 
Dutch  Admiral,  Verhuel,  on  p.  88 — J.  H.  R. 

2  By  the  Convention  signed  on  April  16,  1814,  with  the 
Austrians  near  Mantua,  Eugene,  Viceroy  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Italy,  was  allowed  to  send  away  his  French  troops  to  France. 
— J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEONS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     45 

and  misgivings  to  the  envoys,  who,  I  dare  say, 
were  as  little  pleased  as  I  was  at  being  awakened 
at  so  unreasonable  an  hour. 

It  was,  indeed,  pretty  evident  that  Napoleon 
was  in  no  hurry  to  quit  the  shores  of  France, 
and  appeared  to  have  some  motive  for  remaining. 
The  envoys  became  rather  uneasy,  and  requested 
me  to  endeavour  to  prevail  upon  him  to  embark 
that  day.  In  order  to  meet  their  wishes,  I  de- 
manded an  interview,  and  pointed  out  to  the 
Emperor  the  uncertainty  of  winds,  and  the 
difficulty  I  should  have  in  landing  in  the  boats 
should  the  wind  change  to  the  southward  and 
drive  in  a  swell  upon  the  beach,  which,  from  the 
present  appearance  of  the  weather,  would  in  all 
probability  happen  before  many  hours ;  in  which 
case  I  should  be  obliged,  for  the  safety  of  His 
Majesty's  ship,  to  put  to  sea  again.  I  then  took 
leave,  and  went  on  board,  and  at  ten  o'clock  re- 
ceived the  following  note  from  Colonel  Campbell : 

"  DEAR  USSHER, — The  Emperor  is  not  very 
well.  He  wishes  to  delay  embarking  for  a  few 
hours,  if  you  think  it  will  be  possible  then.  That 
you  may  not  be  in  suspense,  he  begs  you  will 
leave  one  of  your  officers  here,  who  can  make 
a  signal  to  your  ship  when  it  is  necessary  to 


46  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

prepare,  and  he  will  also  send  previous  warning. 
I  think  you  had  better  come  up  or  send,  and 
we  can  fix  a  signal,  such  as  a  white  sheet,  at 
the  end  of  the  street.  The  bearer  has  orders  to 
place  at  your  disposal  a  hussar  and  a  horse 
whenever  you  wish  to  go  up  or  down.  Let  me 
know  your  wishes  by  bearer.  You  will  find  me 
at  General  Roller's. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"N.  CAMPBELL." 

Napoleon,  finding  that  it  was  my  determination 
to  put  to  sea,  saw  the  necessity  of  yielding  to 
circumstances.  Bertrand  was  accordingly  directed 
to  have  the  carriages  ready  at  seven  o'clock.  I 
waited  on  the  Emperor  at  a  quarter  before  seven 
to  inform  him  that  my  barge  was  at  the  beach. 
I  remained  alone  with  him  in  his  room  at  the 
town  until  the  carriage  which  was  to  convey  him 
to  the  boat  was  announced.  He  walked  up  and 
down  the  room,  apparently  in  deep  thought. 
There  was  a  loud  noise  in  the  street,  upon  which 
I  remarked  that  a  French  mob  was  the  worst  of 
all  mobs  (I  hardly  know  why  I  made  this  re- 
mark). "Yes,"  he  replied,  "they  are  fickle 
people";  and  added,  "  They  are  like  a  weather- 
cock." 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION   TO  ELBA     47 

At  this  moment  Count  Bertrand  announced 
the  carriages.  He  immediately  put  on  his 
sword,  which  was  lying  on  the  table,  and  said, 
"  Allans,  Capitaine"  I  turned  from  him  to  see 
if  my  sword  was  loose  in  the  scabbard,  fancying 
I  might  have  occasion  to  use  it.  The  folding- 
doors,  which  opened  on  a  pretty  large  landing- 
place,  were  now  thrown  open,  when  there 
appeared  a  number  of  most  respectable-looking 
people,  the  ladies  in  full  dress,  waiting  to  see 
him.  They  were  perfectly  silent,  but  bowed 
most  respectfully  to  the  Emperor,  who  went  up 
to  a  very  pretty  young  woman  in  the  midst  of 
the  group,  and  asked  her,  in  a  courteous  tone, 
if  she  were  married,  and  how  many  children 
she  had. 

He  scarcely  waited  for  a  reply,  but,  bowing 
to  each  individual  as  he  descended  the  staircase, 
stepped  into  his  carriage,  desiring  Baron  Roller, 
Comte  Bertrand,  and  me,  to  accompany  him. 
The  carriage  immediately  drove  off  at  full  speed 
to  the  beach,  followed  by  the  carriages  of  the 
envoys.  The  scene  was  deeply  interesting.  It 
was  a  bright  moonlight  night,  with  little  wind ; 
a  regiment  of  cavalry  was  drawn  up  in  a  line 
upon  the  beach  and  among  the  trees.  As  the 
carriage  approached,  the  bugles  sounded,  which, 


48  NAPOLEOWS  LAST  VOYAGES 

with  the  neighing  of  the  horses,  and  the  noise  of 
the  people  assembled  to  bid  adieu  to  their  fallen 
chief,  was  to  me  in  the  highest  degree  interesting. 
The  Emperor,  having  left  the  carriage,  em- 
braced Prince  Schoovalof,  who,  with  Comte 
Truxos,  took  leave,  and  returned  to  Paris,  and, 
taking  my  arm,  immediately  proceeded  toward 
the  barge,  which  was  waiting  to  receive  us. 
Lieutenant  Smith  (nephew  of  Sir  Sidney  Smith,1 
who,  it  is  well  known,  had  been  for  some  time 
confined  in  the  Temple  with  Captain  Wright) 
was,  by  a  strange  coincidence,  the  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  boat.  He  came  forward  and  assisted 
the  Emperor  along  the  gang-plank  into  the  boat. 
The  Undaunted  lay  close  in,  with  her  topsails 
hoisted,  lying  to.  On  arriving  alongside,  I 
immediately  went  up  the  side  to  receive  the 
Emperor  on  the  quarter-deck.  He  took  his 
hat  off  and  bowed  to  the  officers,  who  were 
all  assembled  on  the  deck.  Soon  afterwards 
he  went  forward  to  the  forecastle  among  the 
people,  and  I  found  him  there  conversing  with 
those  among  them  who  understood  a  little 
French.  Nothing  seemed  to  escape  his  obser- 
vation ;  the  first  thing  which  attracted  his  notice 

1  Sir  Sidney  Smith,  famous  for  his  defence  of  Acre  against 
Napoleon  in  1799  and  his  capture  of  Capri  in  1806. — J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEONS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     49 

was  the  number  of  boats  (I  think  we  had  eleven). 
Having  made  all  sail,  and  fired  a  royal  salute, 
I  accompanied  him  to  my  cabin,  and  showed 
him  my  cot,  which  I  had  ordered  to  be  prepared 
for  him.  He  smiled  when  I  said  I  had  no  better 
accommodation  for  him,  and  said  that  everything 
was  very  comfortable,  and  he  was  sure  he  would 
sleep  soundly.  We  now  made  all  sail,  and 
shaped  our  course  for  Elba.  At  four,  his  usual 
hour,  he  was  up  and  had  a  cup  of  strong  coffee 
(his  constant  custom),  and  at  seven  came  on 
deck,  and  seemed  not  in  the  least  affected  by 
the  motion  of  the  ship.  At  this  moment  we  were 
exchanging  numbers  with  the  Malta,  standing 
toward  Genoa,  and  I  telegraphed  that  I  had  the 
Emperor  on  board.1  The  wind  having  changed 
to  the  south-east,  I  hauled  on  the  larboard  tack 
toward  Corsica.  At  ten  we  breakfasted ;  Comte 
Bertrand,  Comte  Drouot,  Baron  Roller,  Colonel 
Campbell,  Comte  Clam,  and  the  officer  of  the 
morning  watch  were  present.  Napoleon  was  in 
very  good  spirits,  and  seemed  very  desirous  to 
show  that,  though  he  had  ambition,  England 
was  not  without  her  share  also.  He  said  that 

1  An  Anglo-Sicilian  force  under  Lord  William  Bentinck 
and  Sir  Edward  Pellew  captured  Genoa  on  April  18,  1814. — 
J.  H.  R. 

4 


50  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

ever  since  the  time  of  Cromwell  we  had  set  up 
extraordinary  pretensions,  and  arrogated  to  our- 
selves the  dominion  of  the  sea ;  that  after  the 
peace  of  Amiens  Lord  Sidmouth  wished  to  renew 
the  former  treaty  of  commerce,  which  had  been 
made  by  Vergennes  after  the  American  war ;  but 
that  he,  anxious  to  encourage  the  industry  of 
France,  had  expressed  his  readiness  to  enter  into 
a  treaty,  not  like  the  former,  which  it  was  clear, 
from  the  portfolio  of  Versailles,  must  be  injurious 
to  the  interests  of  France,  but  on  terms  of  perfect 
reciprocity — viz.,  that  if  France  took  so  many 
millions  of  English  goods,  England  should  take 
as  many  millions  of  French  produce  in  return.1 
Lord  Sidmouth  2  said  : 

1  I  have  not  found  in  my  examination  of  the  papers  relating 
to  the  Peace  of  Amiens  any  proof  that  Napoleon  made  such  a 
proposal.     He  and   his   brother,  Joseph  Bonaparte,  tabooed 
discussions  respecting  a  treaty  of  commerce.     The  last  phrase, 
of  Napoleon  quoted  above  is  (if  correctly  reported)  a  proof  of 
his  curiously  mechanical  ideas  on  national  commerce.     In  the 
words  of  the  Minister  Chaptal,  "  Napoleon  thought  that  he 
could  make  commerce  manoeuvre   like  a   regiment "  ("  Mes 
Souvenirs  sur  Napoleon,"  p.  275). — J.  H.  R. 

2  Addington,  Prime  Minister  from  March,  1801   to  May, 
1804,  was  created  Viscount  Sidmouth  in  18054     The  famous 
commercial  treaty  of  1786  was  concluded   by   William   Pitt 
(the  younger)  and  Vergennes,  chief  Minister   of  France  in 
1781-87.     It  was  a  noteworthy  advance  towards  free  trade. — 
J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     51 

"  This  is  totally  new.  I  cannot  make  a  treaty 
on  these  conditions." 

"  Very  well.  I  cannot  force  you  into  a  treaty 
of  commerce  any  more  than  you  can  force  me, 
and  we  must  remain  as  we  are,  without  com- 
mercial intercourse." 

"Then,"  said  Lord  Sidmouth,  "  there  will  be 
war ;  for  unless  the  people  of  England  have  the 
advantages  of  commerce  secured  to  them,  which 
they  have  been  accustomed  to,  they  will  force  me 
to  declare  war." 

"As  you  please.  It  is  my  duty  to  study  the 
just  interests  of  France,  and  I  shall  not  enter  into 
any  treaty  of  commerce  on  other  principles  than 
those  I  have  stated." 

He  stated  that  although  England  made  Malta 
the  pretext,  all  the  world  knew  that  was  not  the 
real  cause  of  the  rupture  ; *  that  he  was  sincere 
in  his  desire  for  peace,  as  a  proof  of  which  he 

1  This  assertion  is  strange,  because  Napoleon  sought  in 
1803  to  fasten  attention  on  the  Maltese  question,  which  was, 
technically  speaking,  the  weakest  part  of  the  British  case. 
The  real  cause  of  the  rupture  was  an  essential  divergence  of 
view  on  colonial  and  Oriental  policy,  in  which  the  future  of 
India,  Egypt,  and  Malta  stood  in  vital  relation.  For  Napoleon's 
desire  of  war  in  1803,  see  Lord  Holland,  "Foreign  Remin- 
iscences" (p.  234),  who  had  this  information  from  Gallois. — 
J.  H.  R. 


52  NAPOLEONS  LAST  VOYAGES 

sent  his  expedition  to  San  Domingo.  When  it 
was  remarked  by  Colonel  Campbell  that  England 
did  not  think  him  sincere,  from  his  refusing  a 
treaty  of  commerce,  and  sending  consuls  to 
Ireland,  with  engineers  to  examine  the  harbours, 
he  laughed,  and  said  that  was  not  necessary,  for 
every  harbour  in  England  and  Ireland  was  well 
known  to  him.  Bertrand  remarked  that  every 
ambassador  was  a  spy. 

Napoleon  said  that  the  Americans  admitted 
the  justness  of  his  principles  of  commerce.  For- 
merly they  brought  over  some  millions  of  tobacco 
and  cotton,  took  specie  in  return,  and  then  went 
empty  to  England,  where  they  furnished  them- 
selves with  British  manufactures.  He  refused  to 
admit  their  tobacco  and  cotton  unless  they  took 
from  France  an  equivalent  in  French  produce  ; 
they  yielded  to  his  system  as  being  just.1  He 
added  that  now  England  had  it  all  her  own  way, 
that  there  was  no  power  which  could  successfully 
oppose  her  system,  and  that  she  might  now 
impose  on  France  any  treaty  she  pleased.  "  The 
Bourbons,  poor  devils  [here  he  checked  himself], 

1  This  is  a  straining  of  the  facts.  The  United  States  in 
November-December,  1810,  were  overreached  by  Napoleon's 
diplomacy.  See  H.  Adams,  "History  of  the  United  States 
(1801-1813)."— J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     53 

are  great  lords  who  are  contented  with  having 
back  their  estates  and  castles  ;  but  if  the  French 
people  become  dissatisfied  with  that  [the  treaty], 
and  find  that  there  is  not  the  encouragement  for 
their  manufactures  in  the  interior  of  the  country 
that  there  should  be,  they  [the  Bourbons]  will  be 
driven  out  in  six  months.1  Marseilles,  Nantes, 
Bordeaux,  and  the  coast  are  not  troubled  by  that, 
for  they  always  have  the  same  commerce  ;  but  in 
the  interior  it  is  another  thing.  I  well  know 
what  the  feeling  is  for  me  at  Terrare,2  Lyons, 
and  those  places  which  have  manufactures,  and 
which  I  have  encouraged."  3 

He  said  that  Spain  was  the  natural  friend  of 

1  This   is   one   sign   among   many   that   in    1814   he   still 
cherished  great  hopes  of  reigning  once  more  in  France.     His 
popularity  at  Lyons,  St.  Etienne,  &c.,  which  was  due  to  his 
protective  tariff,  was  to  be  seen  in  March,  1815. — J.  H.  R. 

2  "  Terrare "   should   be   Tarare,    north-east    of   Lyons. — 
J.  H.  R. 

3  "  Les  Bourbons,  pauvres  diables  [here  he  checked  him- 
self], ils  sont  des  grands  seigneurs  qui  se  contentent  d'avoir 
leurs  terres  et  leurs  chateaux,  mais  si  le  peuple  frangais  devient 
mecontent  de  cela,  et  trouve  qu'il  n'y  a  pas  1'encouragement 
pour  leurs  manufactures  dans  Finterieur  qu'il  devrait  avoir,  ils 
seront  chasses  dans  six  mois.     Marseille,  Nantes,  Bordeaux,  et 
la  cote  ne  se  soucient  pas  de  cela,  car  ils  ont  toujours  le  meme 
commerce,  mais  dans  1'interieur  c'est  autre  chose.      Je   sais 
bien  comment  1'esprit  etait  pour  moi  a  Terrare,  Lyon,  et  ces 
endroits  qui  ont  des  manufactures,  et  que  j'ai  encourages." 


54  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

France  and  enemy  of  Great  Britain ;  that  it  was 
the  interest  of  Spain  to  unite  with  France  in 
support  of  their  commerce  and  foreign  posses- 
sions ;  that  it  was  a  disgrace  to  Spain  to  allow  us 
to  hold  Gibraltar.  It  was  only  necessary  to 
bombard  it  night  and  day  for  a  year,  and  it  must 
eventually  fall.  He  asked  if  we  still  held  Cintra. 
He  did  not  invade  Spain,  he  said,  to  put  one  of 
his  family  on  the  throne,  but  to  revolutionise  her ; 
to  make  her  a  kingdom  in  right  ;  to  abolish  the 
inquisition,  feudal  rights,  and  the  inordinate 
privileges  of  certain  classes.1  He  spoke  also  of 
our  attacking  Spain  without  a  declaration  of  war, 
and  without  cause,  and  seizing  the  frigates  bring- 
ing home  treasure.2  Some  one  remarked  that 
we  knew  Spain  intended  to  make  common  cause 
with  him  as  soon  as  the  treasure  should  arrive. 

1  This,  of  course,  is  an  explanation  after  the  event.     There 
is  no  proof  from   Napoleon's   Correspondence   of  January- 
August,  1808,  that  he  was  actuated  by  philanthropic  motives 
towards  the  Spanish  people.     Spain  and  the  Spanish   naval 
resources  unquestionably  entered  very  largely  into  the  great 
designs  for  controlling  the   Mediterranean   and   the   Orient, 
which  he  had  closely  at  heart   in   the  summer  of  1808. — 
J.  H.  R. 

2  On  this  question  see  the  remarks  of  an  impartial  judge, 
Captain  Mahan,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  "  Influence  of  Sea 
Power    on    the    French   Revolution    and    Empire,"  vol.   ii. 
chap.  xv. — J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEOWS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     55 

He  said  he  did  not  want  it ;  all  he  had  was  five 
millions  (francs)  per  month.1 

On  my  asking  a  question  regarding  the  Wal- 
cheren  expedition,  he  said  he  could  not  hold  Wal- 
cheren  with  less  than  14,000  men,  half  of  whom 
would  be  lost  annually  by  disease  ;  and  as  he  had 
such  means  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Antwerp,  it 
could  at  any  time  be  attacked,  and  by  means  of 
superiority  of  numbers  must  fall  ;  that  the  expe- 
dition against  it  was  on  too  great  a  scale  and  too 
long  preparing,  as  it  gave  him  time.  He  added 
that  he  wrote  from  Vienna  that  an  expedition  was 
going  to  Antwerp ;  he  thought  that  a  coup  de  main 
with  10,000  men  and  with  his  preparation  would 
have  succeeded ;  laughed  at  our  ignorance  in  suffer- 
ing so  much  time  to  be  lost,  and  in  settling  down 
before  Flushing  (whereby  we  lost  a  large  pro- 
portion of  our  army  through  disease)  instead  of 
advancing  rapidly  on  Antwerp ;  and  seemed 
astonished  at  our  Government's  selecting  such  a 
commander-in-chief  for  so  important  an  ex- 
pedition. 

After   breakfasting,    Napoleon  read   for   some 

1  The  sum  really  was  6,000,000  francs  a  month.  For  the 
whole  conversation,  see  the  account  (rather  fuller  in  some 
details)  in  Sir  Neil  Campbell's  Journal  "Napoleon  at  Fon- 
tainebleau  and  Elba"  (London,  1869),  pp.  201-4. — J-  H.  R. 


$6  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

hours,  and  came  on  deck  about  two  o'clock, 
remaining  two  or  three  hours,  occasionally  re- 
marking what  was  going  forward,  as  the  men 
were  employed  in  the  ordinary  duties  of  the 
ship,  mending  sails,  drawing  yarns,  exercising 
the  guns,  &c. 

After  dinner,  he  referred  to  a  map  of  Toulon 
Harbour,  and  went  over  the  whole  of  the  opera- 
tions against  Lord  Hood  and  General  O'Hara(he 
commanded  the  artillery  there  as  major).  All 
the  other  officers,  he  said,  were  for  a  regular 
siege.1  He  gave  in  a  memoir  proposing  to  drive 
off  the  fleet  from  the  inner  harbour,  which,  if 
successful,  would  place  the  garrison  of  Toulon 
in  danger  ;  that  it  was  upon  this  occasion  he  felt 
the  superiority  of  the  new  tactics.  He  related  an 
anecdote  of  one  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people  ordering  his  battery  to  fire,  and  unmasking 
it  too  soon. 

This  evening  a  small  Genoese  trading-vessel 
passed  near  us.  I  ordered  her  to  be  examined, 
and,  as  Napoleon  was  anxious  to  know  the  news, 

1  This  is  not  quite  correct.  The  Commissioners  of  the 
French  Convention  had  previously  put  forward  a  plan  for 
reducing  Toulon  which  in  its  general  outlines  resembled  that 
of  Bonaparte.  The  energy  of  the  latter  certainly  carried  the 
plan  through  successfully. — J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEOJSPS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     57 

I  desired  the  captain  to  be  sent  on  board. 
Napoleon  was  on  the  quarter-deck ;  he  wore  a 
great-coat  and  round  hat.  As  he  expressed  a 
wish  to  question  the  captain,  I  sent  him  to  the 
Emperor  on  the  after  part  of  the  quarter-deck, 
and  afterward  ordered  him  down  to  my  cabin. 
"Your  captain,"  said  he,  "  is  the  most  extra- 
ordinary man  I  ever  met ;  he  puts  all  sorts  of 
questions  to  me,  and,  without  giving  me  time  to 
reply,  repeated  the  same  questions  to  me  rapidly 
a  second  time."  When  I  told  him  to  whom  he 
had  been  speaking,  he  appeared  all  astonishment, 
and  instantly  ran  on  deck,  hoping  to  see  him 
again  ;  but  Napoleon,  to  his  great  disappoint- 
ment, had  already  gone  below.  When  I  told 
Napoleon  the  man  had  remarked  the  rapidity 
with  which  he  put  questions  to  him  twice  over, 
he  said  it  was  the  only  way  to  get  at  the  truth 
from  such  fellows. 

One  morning  when  Napoleon  was  on  deck,  I 
ordered  the  ship  to  be  tacked,  and  we  stood 
toward  the  Ligurian  coast.  The  weather  was 
very  clear  as  we  approached  the  land.  We  had 
a  fine  view  of  the  Alps.  He  leaned  on  my  arm 
and  gazed  at  them  with  great  earnestness  for 
nearly  half  an  hour  ;  his  eye  appeared  quite  fixed. 
I  remarked  that  he  had  passed  those  mountains 


58  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

on  a  former  occasion  under  very  different  circum- 
stances.    He  merely  said  that  it  was  very  true.1 

The  wind  was  now  increasing  to  a  gale.  He 
asked  me,  laughing,  if  there  was  any  danger, 
which  was  evidently  meant  to  annoy  Baron 
Roller,  who  was  near  him,  and  who  had  no  great 
faith  in  the  safety  of  ships,  and  whom  he  con- 
stantly joked  on  his  bad  sailorship,  as  the  Baron 
suffered  dreadfully  from  sea-sickness.  He  made 
some  observations  to  me  as  to  our  men's  allow- 
ance of  provisions,  and  seemed  surprised  that 
they  had  cocoa  and  sugar,  and  asked  how  long 
they  had  had  that  indulgence.  I  told  him  they 
were  indebted  to  him  for  it  ;  that  the  Continental 
system  had  done  this  good  for  sailors,  that  as  we 
could  not  send  our  cocoa  and  sugar  to  the  Con- 
tinent, the  Government  had  made  that  addition 
to  the  allowance  of  the  men.  We  now  tacked 
and  stood  over  toward  the  Corsican  shore,  passing 
a  small  vessel  that  he  was  very  anxious  for  me 
to  hail  for  news.  I  told  him  we  could  not  get 
near  enough  for  that  purpose,  as  she  was  to  wind- 
ward, crossing  us  on  the  opposite  tack.  We  were 

1  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1796,  when,  at  the  beginning  of 
his  first  campaign,  he  defeated  first  the  Austrians  and  then  the 
Sardinians  in  the  mountainous  country  north  of  Savona. — 
J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA      59 

then  at  table ;  he  whispered  to  me  to  fire  at  her 
and  bring  her  down.  I  expressed  my  surprise  at 
his  request,  as  it  would  denationalise  her  (referring 
to  his  Milan  decree).1  He  pinched  my  ear,  and 
laughed,  remarking  that  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
directs  that  when  vessels  are  boarded  it  shall  be 
done  out  of  gunshot.  It  was  on  this  occasion,  he 
said,  that  England  was  not  prepared  for  the  steps 
he  took  in  retaliation,  upon  her  blockading  an 
entire  line  of  coast  from  the  river  Elbe  to  Brest ; 
it  was  that  which  forced  him  to  take  possession  of 
Holland.2  America  behaved  with  spirit,  he  said  ; 
adding  that  he  thought  their  state  correspondence 
was  very  well  managed,  and  contained  much 
sound  reasoning.  I  asked  him  if  he  issued  his 
famous  Milan  decree  for  the  purpose  of  forcing 

1  The  Milan  Decree  of  December  17,    1807,  carried  his 
methods    of   commercial    war  against   England,   styled   the 
Continental  System,  to  great  lengths.     By  it  he  declared  that 
all  neutral  vessels  which  submitted  to  the  British   maritime 
regulations  were  thereby  denationalised,  and  would  be  a  good 
prize.— J.  H.  R. 

2  The  British  Order  in  Council  of  April  26,   1809,  ordered 
that  the  British  blockade  of  the  Napoleonic  lands  should  be 
limited  to  Holland,  France,  and   Italy.     Napoleon   annexed 
the  Kingdom  of  Holland  in  July,  1810,  owing  to  his  resolve 
to  put  an  end  altogether  to  the  trade  between  Holland  and 
England — a  measure  which  the  King,  Louis  Bonaparte,  would 
not  carry  out  to  the  Emperor's  satisfaction. — J.  H.  R. 


60  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

America  to  quarrel  with  us.  He  said  he  was 
angry  with  America  for  suffering  her  flag  to  be 
denationalised.1  He  spoke  long  on  this  subject, 
and  said  that  America  had  justice  on  her  side  ;  he 
rather  expected  America  to  invade  Mexico.  He 
said  the  expedition  against  Copenhagen  was  most 
unjust,  and  from  every  point  of  view  bad  policy  ; 
and  that,  after  all,  we  only  took  a  few  vessels  that 
were  of  no  use  to  us  ;  that  the  gross  injustice  of 
attacking  a  weaker  nation,  without  a  cause  and 
without  a  declaration  of  war,  did  us  infinite  harm.2 
I  observed  that  it  was  at  that  time  believed  that 
their  fleet  was  sold  to  him. 

In  speaking  of  Toulon,  he  remarked  that  he 

1  All  this  is  exactly  as  in  original. — W.  H.  U.     Napoleon 
had   several   disputes  with   the   United  States  on  naval  and 
commercial  matters,  chiefly  because  their  ships,  after  bringing 
American  produce  to  France,  used  to  call  at  British  ports  and 
carry  back  British  goods.     This,  in  his  view,  denationalised 
them,  and  he  captured  and  confiscated  as  many  as  possible. 
Mexico  was  a  possession  of  Spain,  then  an  ally  of  France. — 
J.  H.  R. 

2  The  British  expedition  to  Copenhagen  in  August,  1807 
(not  to  be  confused  with  Nelson's   attack  in  the   spring  of 
1801),    was    due     to    the    knowledge    gleaned    by    British 
diplomatists  and  Ministers   of  Napoleon's   resolve   after   the 
Treaty   of  Tilsit  (July    7,    1807),   to   coerce   Denmark,   and 
probably  make  use  of  her  fleet.      For  proof,  see  "  Napoleonic 
Studies,'    by  J.   H.  Rose,  pp.   133-165  ;  also  the  Edinburgh 
Review  for  April,  1906. 


NAPOLEOWS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     61 

found  great  inconvenience  in  being  obliged  to 
complete  the  provisions  and  stores  after  the  ships 
went  out  of  the  inner  harbours,  as  it  gave  infor- 
mation of  his  intentions  to  British  cruisers.  To 
avoid  this,  he  sent  the  Rivoli  out  from  Venice  on 
a  camel,1  with  her  guns,  stores,  and  provisions  on 
board.  He  meant  to  form  an  establishment  for 
building  men-of-war  at  Bouc,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Rhone,  instead  of  at  Toulon,  the  timber  of 
which  was  to  be  brought  there  by  a  canal  from 
the  Rhone,  and  that  he  intended  to  make  Toulon 
a  port  of  equipment.  In  speaking  of  Cherbourg, 
he  described  the  basin  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock, 
with  docks  for  ships,  executed  by  his  orders,  and 
drew  with  a  pencil  on  a  plan  I  have  of  the  town 
a  line  of  fortifications  erected  for  its  defence 
against  any  expedition  from  England,  which  it 
seemed  he  expected.  The  entrance  is  mined 
at  each  side.  The  Empress  Marie  Louise  visited 
Cherbourg  (when  he  was  in  Dresden)  at  the 
completion  of  the  works  last  year.  He  said  he 
had  in  his  possession  what  would  be  invaluable 
to  England,  and  spoke  of  the  weak  and  strong 
points  of  the  empire.  Some  remarks  arising  from 

1  A  water-tight  structure  placed  beneath  a  ship  to  raise  it 
in  the  water,  in  order  to  assist  its  passage  over  a  shoal  or 
bar. 


62  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

this  observation,  he  said,  "France  is  nothing 
without  Antwerp ;  for,  while  Brest  and  Toulon 
are  blockaded,  a  fleet  can  be  equipped  there, 
wood  being  brought  from  Poland."  He  never 
would  consent  to  give  it  up,  having  sworn  at  his 
coronation  not  to  diminish  France.  He  had  the 
Elbe  sounded  and  surveyed  carefully,  and  found 
that  it  was  as  favourable  as  the  Scheldt  for  great 
naval  establishments  near  Hamburg.1 

He  told  me  his  plans  for  the  navy  were  on  a 
gigantic  scale ;  he  would  have  had  three  hundred 
sail  of  the  line.2  I  observed  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  him  to  man  half  the  number.  He 
said  the  naval  conscription,  with  the  enlistment 
of  foreigners  which  he  could  have  from  all  parts 
of  Europe,  would  supply  men  enough  for  the 
whole  of  the  navy ;  that  the  Zuyder  Zee  is 
particularly  well  fitted  for  exercising  conscripts. 

1  These  statements  are   of  great  interest   as   showing  his 
resolve  to  have  a  great  navy.     They  bear  also  on  the  question 
whether,  during  the   Hundred   Days   (1815),   he   was   really 
content  with  the  confines  of  the  old  monarchy,  as   restored 
in  1814,  which  assigned  the  Belgic  Netherlands  to  Holland. 
The  British  Ministry  was  equally  desirous  in  1813-1814  not 
to  make  peace  until  Antwerp  was  severed  from  France.     See 
"  Castlereagh's  Letters,"  3rd  series,  vol.  i.  p.  74. — J.  H.  R. 

2  See  Introduction,  p.  17.     The  substance  of  this  conver- 
sation was  reported  by  Captain  Ussher  to  Lord  Holland.    See 
"  Foreign  Reminiscences,"  by  Lord  Holland,  p.  274. — J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     63 

Having  expressed  some  doubts  as  to  the  merits  of 
his  conscript  sailors,  he  said  I  was  mistaken,  and 
asked  my  opinion  of  the  Toulon  fleet,  which  I  had 
had  frequent  opportunities  of  seeing  manoeuvre 
in  the  presence  of  our  fleet.  He  begged  I  would 
tell  him  frankly  what  I  thought  of  it. 

The  conscripts  were  trained  or  exercised  for 
two  years  in  schooners  and  small  craft,  and  his 
best  officers  and  seamen  were  appointed  to 
command  them.  They  were  constantly  at  sea, 
either  to  protect  the  coasting  trade  or  for 
exercising.  He  had  not  calculated  on  their 
becoming  perfect  seamen  by  these  means,  but 
had  intended  to  send  squadrons  out  to  the  East 
and  West  Indies,  not  for  the  purpose  of  attacking 
the  colonies,  but  for  perfecting  the  men,  and 
annoying,  at  the  same  time,  the  commerce  of 
England.1  He  calculated  upon  losing  some 
ships,  but  said  he  could  spare  them  ;  that  they 
would  be  well  paid  for. 

While  on  this  subject,  he  surprised  me  by 
explaining  to  Baron  Roller,  and  that  very  well, 
a  very  nice  point  of  seamanship,  viz.,  that  of 
keeping  a  ship  clear  of  her  anchor  in  a  tideway. 
He  admired  much  the  regularity  with  which  the 

1  He  pursued  these  plans  after  Trafalgar.  See  my  article 
in  the  Independent  Review  for  November,  1905. — J.  H.  R. 


64  NAPOLEOWS  LAST  VOYAGES 

duty  of  the  ship  was  carried  on,  everything  being 
so  well  timed,  and,  above  all,  the  respect  observed 
by  different  ranks  of  officers  to  one  another  and 
to  the  quarter-deck.  He  thought  this  most 
essential  to  good  discipline,  and  was  not  surprised 
that  we  were  so  jealous  of  the  slightest  deviation 
from  it.  He  said  that  he  endeavoured  to  intro- 
duce this  into  the  French  navy,  but  could  not 
drive  it  into  the  heads  of  his  captains. 

The  wind  still  continuing  to  the  eastward,  with 
a  heavy  sea,  we  stood  in  to  get  well  within  the 
Corsican  shore.  Having  carried  away  the  leech- 
ropes  of  the  fore-  and  maintopsails,  we  repaired 
them  aloft,  close  reefed  them,  and  sent  down 
topgallant-yards  and  royalmasts.  There  now 
being  every  appearance  of  bad  weather,  I  men- 
tioned my  intention,  if  the  gale  increased,  of 
anchoring  at  Bastia.  Napoleon  seemed  most 
desirous  that  we  should  anchor  at  Ajaccio.  I 
explained  to  him  that  it  was  much  out  of  our 
course.  He  proposed  Calvi,  with  which  he  was 
perfectly  acquainted,  mentioning  the  depth  of 
water,  with  other  remarks  on  the  harbour,  &c., 
which  convinced  me  that  he  would  have  made  us 
an  excellent  pilot  had  we  touched  there.1 

1  Bonaparte  was  brought  up  among  Corsican  sailors.  At 
the  military  school  at  Brienne,  in  eastern  France,  he  was 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     65 

This  evening  we  fell  in  and  exchanged  numbers 
with  the  Berwick,  Aigle,  and  Alcmene,  with  a 
convoy.  I  invited  Sir  John  Lewis  and  Captain 
Coghlan  to  dine  with  me.  When  they  came  on 
board  I  presented  them  to  Napoleon  ;  he  asked 
them  various  questions  about  their  ships,  their 
sailing  and  other  qualities.  Captain  Coghlan  was 
not  a  little  surprised  by  his  asking  him  if  he  were 
not  an  Irishman  and  a  Roman  Catholic.  All  this 
night  we  carried  sail  to  get  inshore,  the  Aigle 
and  Alcmene  keeping  company.  At  daylight  we 
saw  the  town  of  Calvi  bearing  south.  Napoleon 
was  on  deck  earlier  than  usual ;  he  seemed  in 
high  spirits,  looked  most  earnestly  at  the  shore, 
asking  the  officers  questions  relative  to  landing- 
places,  &c.  As  we  closed  with  the  shore  the 
wind  moderated.  During  the  bad  weather 
Napoleon  remained  constantly  on  deck,  and 
was  not  in  the  least  affected  by  the  motion  of  the 
ship.  This  was  not  the  case,  however,  with  his 
attendants,  who  suffered  a  good  deal. 

The  wind  now  coming  off  the  land,  we  hauled 
close  inshore.  Napoleon  took  great  delight  in 
examining  it  with  his  glass,  and  told  us  many 

at  first  recommended  for  the  navy ;  and  only  a  chance 
circumstance  led  to  the  change  of  this  plan.  See  Chuquet, 
"  La  Jeunesse  de  Napoleon"  (Brienne),  p.  137. — J.  H.  R. 

5 


66  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

anecdotes  of  his  younger  days.  We  rounded  a 
bold,  rocky  cape,  within  two  or  three  cables'- 
lengths,  and  Napoleon,  addressing  himself  to 
Baron  Roller,  said  he  thought  a  walk  on  shore 
would  do  them  good,  and  proposed  landing  to 
explore  the  cliffs.  The  Baron  whispered  that  he 
knew  him  too  well  to  trust  him  on  such  an  ex- 
cursion, and  begged  me  not  to  listen  to  his 
suggestion. 

We  now  hauled  in  toward  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Florent,  fired  a  gun,  and  brought  to  a  felucca 
from  Genoa,  who  informed  us  that  Sir  Edward 
Pellew,  the  commander-in-chief,  and  fleet  were 
lying  there.  We  then  shaped  our  course  for 
Cape  Corso,  which  we  passed  in  the  night.  In 
the  morning  we  tacked,  and  stood  toward  Capraja 
Isle,  and,  observing  colours  flying  at  the  castle, 
stood  close  in  and  hove  to.  A  deputation  came 
off  from  the  island,  requesting  me  to  take  posses- 
sion of  it,  and  informing  me  that  there  was  a 
French  garrison  in  the  castle.  I  accordingly  sent 
Lieutenant  Smith  with  a  party  of  seamen  to  hoist 
the  British  colours  for  its  protection.  Napoleon 
held  a  long  conversation  with  the  members  of  the 
deputation,  who  expressed  the  utmost  surprise  at 
finding  their  Emperor  on  board  an  English  man- 
of-war.  Having  now  made  all  sail,  and  shaped 


NAPOLEONS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     67 

our  course  for  Elba,  Napoleon  became  very 
impatient  to  see  it,  and  asked  if  we  had  every 
sail  set.  I  told  him  we  had  set  all  that  could  be 
of  any  use.  He  said,  "  Were  you  in  chase  of  an 
enemy's  frigate,  should  you  make  more  sail  ? " 
I  looked,  and,  seeing  that  the  starboard  top- 
gallant stunsail  was  not  set,  observed  that  if  I 
were  in  chase  of  an  enemy  I  should  certainly 
carry  it.  He  replied,  that  if  it  could  be  of  use 
in  that  case,  it  might  be  so  now.  I  mention  this 
anecdote  to  show  what  a  close  observer  he  was ; 
in  fact,  nothing  escaped  him.  When  the  man 
stationed  at  the  masthead  hailed  the  deck  that 
Elba  was  right  ahead,  he  became  exceedingly 
impatient,  went  forward  to  the  forecastle,  and 
as  soon  as  the  land  could  be  seen  from  the  deck 
was  very  particular  in  inquiring  what  colours 
were  flying  on  the  batteries.  He  seemed  to 
doubt  the  garrison's  having  given  in  their  ad- 
hesion to  the  Bourbons,  and,  it  appears,  not 
without  some  reason,  as  they  had,  in  fact,  done 
so  only  during  the  preceding  forty-eight  hours ; 
so  that,  if  we  had  had  a  fair  wind,  I  should  have 
found  the  island  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and 
consequently  must  have  taken  my  charge  to  the 
commander-in-chief, l  who  would,  no  doubt,  have 
*  That  is,  Sir  Edward  Pellew,  then  at  Genoa.— J.  H.  R. 


68  NAPOLEOWS  LAST   VOYAGES 

ordered  us  to  England.  On  nearing  Elba, 
General  Drouot,  Comte  Clam  (aide-de-camp  to 
Prince  Schwarzenberg),  and  Lieutenant  Hastings, 
the  first  lieutenant  of  the  Undaunted,  were  sent 
ashore,  commissioned  by  Napoleon  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  island.  Colonel  Campbell  accom- 
panied them.  They  were  conducted  to  the  house 
of  General  Dalheme,  who  had  received  orders 
from  the  provisional  Government  only  two  days 
before,  in  consequence  of  which  he  and  his  troops 
had  given  in  their  adhesion  to  Louis  XVIII., 
and  had  hoisted  the  white  flag.  The  general 
expressed  his  desire  to  do  whatever  should  be 
agreeable  to  the  Emperor. 

May  3,  1814. — One  part  of  Drouot's  instruc- 
tions from  Napoleon  mentioned  his  desire  to 
receive  the  names  of  all  officers,  non-commis- 
sioned officers,  and  privates  who  would  wish  to 
enter  into  his  service.  He  desired  also  a  deputa- 
tion of  the  principal  inhabitants  to  come  off  to 
him.  About  8  p.m.  we  anchored  at  the  entrance 
to  the  harbour,  and  soon  after  the  deputation 
waited  upon  Napoleon.  There  had  been  originally 
about  3,000  troops,  but  the  desertion  and  the  dis- 
charge of  discontented  foreigners  had  reduced  the 
number  to  about  700.  The  island  had  been  in  a 
state  of  revolt  for  several  weeks,  in  consequence 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     69 

of  which  the  troops  were  shut  up  in  the  fortifica- 
tions which  surrounded  the  town  of  Porto  Ferrajo. 

During  the  night  an  Austrian  officer  was  sent 
off  in  one  of  my  boats  to  Piombino,  to  invite  a 
renewal  of  communication  and  to  obtain  news, 
&C.1  This  was  done  by  a  letter  from  the  com- 
missioners to  the  commandant,  who,  however, 
politely  declined  communication  with  us,  at  the 
same  time  stating  that  he  had  written  to  his 
superior  for  his  permission  to  do  so. 

May  4. — Napoleon  was  on  deck  at  daylight, 
and  talked  for  two  hours  with  the  harbour-master, 
who  had  come  on  board  to  take  charge  of  the 
ship  as  pilot,  questioning  him  minutely  about  the 
anchorage,  fortifications,  &c.  At  six  we  weighed 
anchor,  and  made  sail  into  the  harbour ;  anchored 
at  half-past  six  at  the  Mole  Head,  hoisted  out  all 
the  boats,  and  sent  some  of  the  baggage  on  shore. 
At  eight  the  Emperor  asked  me  for  a  boat,  as  he 
intended  to  take  a  walk  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  bay,  and  requested  me  to  go  with  him.  He 
wore  a  great-coat  and  a  round  hat.  Comte 
Bertrand,  Colonel  Campbell,  and  Colonel  Vincent 
(chief  engineer)  went  with  us ;  Baron  Roller 

1  Piombino,  formerly  an  appanage  to  the  Principality  of 
Lucca  held  by  Elisa  Bonaparte,  was  now  occupied  by  the 
Austrians. — J.  H.  R. 


70  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

declined  doing  so.  When  half-way  ashore 
Napoleon  remarked  that  he  was  without  a 
sword,  and  soon  afterward  asked  if  the  peasants 
of  Tuscany  were  addicted  to  assassination.1  We 
walked  for  about  two  hours.  The  peasants, 
taking  us  for  Englishmen,  cried,  "  Viva  / " 
which  seemed  to  displease  him. 

We  returned  on  board  to  breakfast.  He  after- 
ward fixed  upon  a  flag  for  Elba,  requesting  me  to 
remain  while  he  did  so.  He  had  a  book  with  all 
the  ancient  and  modern  flags  of  Tuscany ;  he 
asked  my  opinion  of  that  which  he  had  chosen. 
It  was  a  white  flag  with  a  red  band  running 
diagonally  through  it,  with  three  bees  on  the 
band  (the  bees  were  in  his  arms  as  emperor  of 
France).  He  then  requested  me  to  allow  the 
ship's  tailor  to  make  two,  one  of  them  to  be 
hoisted  on  the  batteries  at  one  o'clock.  At 
2  p.m.  the  barge  was  manned  ;  he  begged  me  to 
show  him  the  way  down  the  side  of  the  vessel, 
which  I  did,  and  was  soon  followed  by  the 
Emperor,  Baron  Koller,  Comte  Bertrand,  and 

1  It  is  curious  that  the  first  question  Napoleon  asked  of 
Sir  Hudson  Lowe  at  St.  Helena  was  whether  the  Corsicans 
were  not  bad  people,  addicted  to  the  use  of  the  dagger.  The 
Emperor  always  had  a  poor  opinion  of  the  Italians,  including 
those  of  his  native  isle. — J.  H.  R. 


ARRIVAL    OF    NAPCLEOX    AT    ELBA. 


To  face  pa^e  70. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO,  ELBA     71 

Comte  Clam.  The  yards  being  manned,  we 
fired  a  royal  salute,  as  did  two  French  corvettes 
which  were  lying  in  the  harbour  at  that  time. 
The  ship  was  surrounded  by  boats  with  the 
principal  inhabitants  and  bands  of  music  on 
board  ;  the  air  resounded  with  shouts  of  "  Vive 
lEmpereur  !  Vive  Napol'eon  !  "  On  landing,  he 
was  received  by  the  prefect,  the  clergy,  and  all 
the  authorities,  and  the  keys  were  presented  to 
him  on  a  plate,  upon  which  he  made  a  com- 
plimentary speech  to  the  prefect,  the  people 
welcoming  him  with  loud  acclamations. 

We  proceeded  to  the  church  through  a  double 
file  of  soldiers,  and  thence  to  the  hotel  de  ville, 
where  the  principal  inhabitants  were  assembled, 
with  several  of  whom  he  conversed.  Remarking 
an  old  soldier  in  the  crowd  (he  was  a  sergeant, 
I  believe,  and  wore  the  order  of  the  Legion  of 
Honour),  he  called  him  to  him,  and  recollected 
having  given  him  that  decoration  on  the  field 
of  battle  at  Eylau.1  The  old  soldier  shed  tears  ; 
the  idea  of  being  remembered  by  his  Emperor 
fairly  overcame  him.  He  felt,  I  doubt  not,  that 
it  was  the  proudest  day  of  his  life.  Napoleon 

1  For  Napoleon's  wonderful  memory  of  faces  and  incidents, 
seeChaptal  ("  Mes  Souvenirs  sur  Napoleon,"  p.  337),  who  says, 
"  Napoleon  avait  toute  son  armee  dans  sa  tete." — J.  H.  R. 


72  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

afterward  mounted  a  horse,  and,  attended  by  a 
dozen  persons,  visited  some  of  the  outworks, 
having,  before  leaving  the  ship,  invited  me  to 
dine  with  him  at  seven  o'clock.  I  ordered  all 
my  wine  and  stock  to  be  handed  to  him  for  his 
use,  the  island  being  destitute  of  provisions  of 
that  sort. 

May  5. — At  4  a.m.  I  was  awakened  by  shouts 
of  "  Vive  PEmpereur!  "  and  by  drums  beating  ; 
Napoleon  was  already  up,  and  going  on  foot  over 
the  fortifications,  magazines,  and  storehouses. 
At  ten  he  returned  to  breakfast,  and  at  two 
mounted  his  horse,  and  I  accompanied  him  two 
leagues  into  the  country.  He  examined  various 
country-houses,  and  gave  money  to  all  the  poor 
we  met  on  the  road.  At  seven  he  returned  to 
dinner.  I  should  remark  that,  before  leaving  the 
Undaunted,  Napoleon  requested  that  a  party  of 
fifty  marines  might  accompany  him,  and  remain 
on  shore  ;  but  this  he  afterward  changed  to  an 
officer  and  two  sergeants,  one  of  whom,  O'Gorum 
(one  of  the  bravest  and  best  soldiers  I  ever  met, 
and  to  whom  the  Emperor  had  taken  a  great 
fancy),  he  selected  to  sleep  on  a  mattress  outside 
the  door  of  his  bedchamber,  with  his  clothes  and 
sword  on.  A  valet  de  chambre  slept  on  another 
mattress  in  the  same  place,  and  if  Napoleon  lay 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO    ELBA     73 

down  during  the  day,  the  sergeant  remained  in 
the  antechamber. 

May  6. — At  6  a.m.,  we  crossed  the  bay  in  my 
barge,  and  found  horses  waiting  for  us.  We 
rode  to  Rion  to  see  the  famous  iron  mountains. 
We  visited  several  mines,  and  likewise  a  temple 
built  by  the  ancients,  and  dedicated  by  them  to 
Jupiter.1  The  road  to  the  latter  is  highly 
romantic  and  beautiful,  but  is  difficult  of  access, 
being  situated  on  the  summit  of  a  steep  and 
lofty  mountain.  This  obliged  us  to  dismount, 
and  we  walked  through  a  thick  covert  of 
beautiful  trees  and  shrubs  till  we  arrived  at  the 
temple.  We  saw  also  a  small  museum  very 
nicely  kept,  which  contained  many  fine  speci- 
mens of  the  ores  of  the  adjoining  mines,  two 
or  three  of  which  Napoleon  presented  to  me. 
He  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the  principal  mine, 
and,  when  everything  was  prepared,  asked  Baron 
Roller,  me,  and  one  or  two  of  the  party  to 
accompany  him.  The  others  politely  declined; 
I,  however,  accepted  his  invitation.  Two  guides 
with  torches  accompanied  us. 

1  Virgil  calls  Ilva  (Elba)— 

"  Insula  inexhaustis  Chalybum  generosa  metallis." 

(^En.  x.  173). 

In  1814  the  iron  mines  yielded  500,000  francs  to  the  revenue 
(Sir  Neil  Campbell's  "Journal,"  p.  253).—;.  H.  R. 


74  NAPOLEON* S  LAST   VOYAGES 

When  we  arrived  at  the  middle  of  what  ap- 
peared to  be  an  immense  cavern,  the  guides 
suddenly  struck  the  ground  with  their  torches, 
and  all  the  cave  became  instantly  and  splendidly 
illuminated.  At  the  moment  I  expected  an  ex- 
plosion ;  Napoleon  may  have  thought  so  too, 
but  he  very  coolly  took  a  pinch  of  snuff,  and 
desired  me  to  follow  him. 

At  Rion  the  "  Te  Deum"  was  chanted,  I 
suppose  for  the  first  time,  as  the  officiating  priest 
did  not  seem  to  understand  his  business.  In 
passing  through  Rion  a  salute  was  fired,  and 
Napoleon  was  received  with  loud  acclamations 
of  "  Vive  I  Empereur  !  "  The  people  seemed 
very  anxious  to  see  him  :  several  old  women  pre- 
sented petitions,  and  numbers  pressed  forward  to 
kiss  his  hand.  At  five  we  embarked  in  the 
barge,  and  crossed  the  harbour  to  Porto  Ferrajo. 
At  seven  we  sat  down  to  dinner.  He  spoke  of 
his  intention  of  taking  possession  of  Pianosa, 
a  small  island  without  inhabitants,  about  ten 
miles  from  Elba.  He  said,  "All  Europe  will 
say  that  I  have  already  made  a  conquest." I 
Already  he  had  plans  in  agitation  for  conveying 

1  "Toute  1'Europe  dira  que  j'ai  deja  fait  une  conquete." 
In  the  middle  of  May,  Napoleon  sent  some  troops  to  annex 
Pianosa.  See  Sir  Neil  Campbell's  "  Journal,"  p.  233. — J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO    ELBA     75 

water  from  the  mountains  to  the  city.  It  appears 
always  to  have  been  considered  by  him  of  the  first 
importance  to  have  a  supply  of  good  water  for 
the  inhabitants  of  towns,  and  upon  this  occasion 
it  was  evidently  the  first  thing  that  occupied  his 
mind,  having,  almost  immediately  after  arrival, 
requested  me  to  go  with  him  in  the  barge  in 
search  of  water.1 

One  day,  exploring  for  this  purpose,  he  re- 
marked the  boats  of  the  Undaunted  getting  water 
in  a  small  creek ;  he  said  he  was  quite  sure  that 
good  water  was  to  be  found  there.  I  asked  him 
why  he  thought  so.  He  said,  "  Depend  upon  it, 
sailors  know  where  to  find  the  best.  There  are 
no  better  judges."  We  landed  at  this  place,  as 
he  desired  to  taste  the  water.  Jack  made  the 
rim  of  his  hat  into  what  is  called  a  "  cocked  hat," 
and  filled  it  with  water.  Napoleon  was  amused 
at  the  contrivance,  tasted  the  water,  and  pro- 
nounced it  excellent.  The  channeling  of  the 
streets  he  also  thought  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance, and  requested  me  to  allow  the 
carpenter  of  the  ship  to  go  to  him  (having 
learned  he  was  a  tolerably  good  engineer),  that 
he  might  consult  him  about  forcing  the  sea-water 

1  For  his  eager  resolve  to  supply  Paris  with  good  water,  see 
Chaptal,  "  Mes  Souvenirs  sur  Napoleon,"  p.  358. — J.  H.  R. 


76  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

by  means  of  pumps  to  the  summit  of  the  hill. 
I  believe  he  afterward  abandoned  his  sea-water 
plan,  which  would  have  been  attended  with  great 
expense.  He  had  plans  also  for  a  palace  and 
a  country-house,  and  a  house  for  Princess 
Pauline,  stables,  a  lazaretto,  and  a  quaran- 
tine ground.  About  the  latter  he  asked  my 
opinion. 

May  7. — Napoleon  was  employed  visiting  the 
town  and  fortifications.  After  breakfast  he  again 
embarked  in  the  barge,  and  visited  the  different 
storehouses  round  the  harbour.  In  making  ex- 
cursions into  the  country  he  was  accompanied 
by  a  dozen  officers  and  the  captain  of  the  gen- 
darmerie ;  and  one  of  the  fourriers  de  palais 
always  went  before,  and  sometimes  a  party  of 
gendarmes  a  pied. 

After  taking  our  places  in  the  barge,  some  of 
the  party  keeping  their  hats  off,  he  desired  them 
to  put  them  on,  remarking,  "  We  are  together 
here  as  soldiers."  I  The  fishing  for  the  tunny  is 
carried  on  here  by  one  of  the  richest  inhabitants, 
who  from  poverty  has  amassed  a  large  fortune  ; 
he  employs  a  great  number  of  the  poor,  and  has 
considerable  influence.  The  removal  of  his  stores 
to  a  very  inferior  building,  to  make  way  for  a 
1  "  Nous  sommes  ici  ensemble  en  soldats." 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO   ELBA     77 

stable  for  the  Emperor's  horses,  is  likely  to 
give  great  offence.1 

May  8. — The  Curafoa,  Captain  Towers,  arrived 
here  with  Mr.  Locker,  secretary  to  Sir  Edward 
Pellew,  commander-in-chief.  He  requested  an 
audience  to  present  to  the  Emperor  a  copy  of  the 
treaty  of  peace.  Napoleon  received  Mr.  Locker 
very  graciously,  and  seemed  to  read  the  treaty 
with  deep  interest  ;  Baron  Roller,  Comte 
Bertrand,  Drouot,  General  Dalheme,  Colonel 
Campbell,  Captain  Towers,  and  I  were  present. 
Having  read  and  folded  it,  he  returned  it  to  Mr. 
Locker,  expressing  his  obligations  to  the  com- 
mander-in-chief. 

May  9. — Baron  Roller,  having  demanded  an 
audience,  took  leave  of  the  Emperor,  and  em- 
barked in  the  Curafoa  for  Genoa.  This  day 
I  accompanied  Napoleon  to  Longone,  where 
we  lunched  amid  repeated  cries  of  Vive 
I"  Empereur  /  " 

Longone  is  a  place  of  considerable  strength  ; 
the  works  are  regular,  the  bay  is  small,  but  there 
is  a  safe  anchorage  within.  Many  old  people 
presented  petitions,  the  girls  brought  flowers, 
which  he  accepted  with  much  condescension, 

1  For  this  and  other  causes  of  offence,  see  Neil  Campbell's 
"  Journal,"  p.  279.—}.  H.  R. 


78  NAPOLEON >S  LAST  VOYAGES 

talking  to  all,  but  particularly  to  those  that  were 
pretty.  A  young  lad  fell  on  his  knees  before 
him,  either  to  ask  charity  or  merely  as  a  mark 
of  respect ;  he  turned  to  Colonel  Campbell  and 
said,  "Ah!  I  know  the  Italians  well;  it  is  the 
education  of  the  monks.  One  does  not  see  that 
among  the  northern  people."  I  On  proceeding 
a  little  farther  we  met  two  well-dressed  young 
women,  who  saluted  him  with  compliments.  One 
of  them,  the  youngest,  told  him  with  great  ease 
and  gaiety  that  she  had  been  invited  to  the  ball 
at  Longone  two  days  before,  but  as  the  Emperor 
did  not  attend  it,  as  was  expected,  she  had  re- 
mained at  home. 

Instead  of  returning  by  the  same  road,  he 
turned  off  by  goat-paths,  to  examine  the  coast, 
humming  Italian  airs,  which  he  does  very  often, 
and  seemed  quite  in  spirits.  He  expressed  his 
fondness  for  music,  and  remarked  that  this  re- 
minded him  of  passing  Mont  St.  Bernard,  and  of 
a  conversation  he  had  had  with  a  young  peasant 
upon  that  occasion.  The  man,  he  said,  not 
knowing  what  he  was,  spoke  freely  of  the  happi- 
ness of  those  who  possessed  a  good  house 
and  a  number  of  cattle,  &c.  He  made  him 

1  "  Ah !  je  connais  bien  les  Italians ;  c'est  education  des 
moines.     On  ne  voit  pas  cela  parmi  le  peuple  du  nord." 


NAPOLEOWS  DEPORTATION  TO    ELBA     79 

enumerate  his  greatest  wants  and  desires,  and 
afterward  sent  for  him  and  gave  him  all  that  he 
had  described  ;  "  That  cost  me  60,000  francs."  l 

May  10. — Napoleon  rode  to  the  top  of  the 
highest  hill  above  Porto  Ferrajo,  whence  we 
could  perceive  the  sea  from  four  different  points, 
and  apparently  not  an  English  mile  in  a  straight 
line  in  any  direction  from  the  spot  where  we 
stood.  After  surveying  it  for  some  time,  he 
turned  round  and  laughed,  "  Eh,  my  isle  is  very 
small."2  On  the  top  of  this  hill  is  a  small 
chapel,  and  a  house  where  a  hermit  had  resided 
until  his  death.  Some  one  remarked  that  it 
would  require  more  than  common  devotion  to 
induce  persons  to  attend  service  there.  "  Yes, 
yes  ;  the  priest  can  say  as  much  nonsense  as 
he  wishes.  "3 

On  the  evening  of  the  ninth,  after  his  return 
from  Longone,  he  entered  upon  the  subject  of 
the  armies  and  their  operations  at  the  close  of 
the  last  campaign,  and  continued  it  for  half  an 
hour,  until  he  rose  from  table.  After  passing 

1  "  Cela  m'a  coute  60,000  francs." 

2  "  Eh,  mon  ile  est  bien  petite." 

3  "Oui,  oui;    le  pretre  peut  dire  autant  des  betises  qu'il 
veut."     This  might  be  cited  as  proof  of  Napoleon's  complete 
indifference  to  Roman  Catholicism  save  as  a  political  force. — 
J.  H.  R. 


8o  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

into  the  presence-chamber,  the  conversation 
again  turned  on  the  campaign,  his  own  policy, 
the  Bourbons,  &c.,  and  he  continued  talking  with 
great  animation  till  midnight,  remaining  on  his 
legs  for  three  hours.  He  described  the  opera- 
tions against  the  allies  as  always  in  his  favour 
while  the  numbers  were  in  any  sort  of  proportion ; 
that  in  one  affair  against  the  Prussians,  who  were 
infinitely  the  best,  he  had  only  700  infantry  en 
tiralleurs,  with  2,000  cavalry  and  three  battalions 
of  his  guards  in  reserve,  against  double  their 
number.  The  instant  these  old  soldiers  showed 
themselves,  the  affair  was  decided. 

He  praised  General  Bliicher  :  "  The  old  devil 
has  always  attacked  me  with  the  same  vigour  ; 
if  he  was  beaten,  an  instant  afterward  he  was 
ready  again  for  the  combat.'* I  He  then  de- 
scribed his  last  march  from  Arcis  to  Brienne  ; 
said  that  he  knew  Schwarzenberg  would  not 
stand  to  fight  him,  and  that  he  hoped  to  destroy 
half  his  army.  Upon  his  retreat,  he  had  already 
taken  an  immense  quantity  of  baggage  and 
guns.2  When  it  was  reported  to  him  that  the 

1  "Le  vieux   diable  m'a  toujours   attaque  avec   la   meme 
vigueur ;  s'il  etait  battu,  un  instant  apres  il  se  rencontrait  pret 
pour  le  combat." 

2  Napoleon's  sudden  march  eastwards   towards   Chatillon- 
sur-Seine  on  March  20-24,  I8i4,  was  with  the  aim  of  cutting 


NAPOLEOWS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     81 

enemy  had  crossed  the  Aube  to  Vitry,  he  was 
induced  to  halt ;  he  would  not,  however,  credit 
it  till  General  Gerard  assured  him  that  he  saw 
20,000  infantry.  He  was  overjoyed  at  this 
assurance,  and  immediately  returned  to  St. 
Dizier,  where  he  attacked  Wintzingerode's 
cavalry,  which  he  considered  the  advance-guard 
of  Schwarzenberg's  army ;  drove  them  before 
him  a  whole  day,  like  sheep,  at  full  gallop,  took 
1,500  or  2,000  prisoners,  and  some  light  pieces 
of  artillery,  but,  to  his  surprise,  did  not  see  any 
army,  and  again  halted.  His  best  information 
led  him  to  believe  that  they  had  returned  to 
Troyes.  Accordingly  he  marched  in  that 
direction,  and  then  ascertained,  after  a  loss  of 
three  days,  that  the  armies  of  Schwarzenberg 
and  Bllicher  had  marched  upon  Paris.1  He  then 
ordered  forced  marches,  and  went  forward  him- 
self (with  his  suite  and  carriages)  on  horseback 
night  and  day.  Never  were  he  and  his  friends 
more  gay  and  confident.  He  knew,  he  said,  all 
the  workmen  of  Paris  would  fight  for  him.  What 

the  communications  of  the  allies  and  detaching  the  Austrians 
from  the  coalition.  See  proofs  in  my  "  Napoleonic  Studies," 
pp.  264-270. — J.  H.  R. 

1  Much  of  this  is  incorrect.  Schwarzenberg  did  not  march 
towards  Paris  with  Bliicher.  It  was  the  armies  of  Bliicher 
and  Biilow  that  occupied  the  capital. — J,  H.  R. 

6 


82  NAPOLEONS  LAST  VOYAGES 

could  the  allies  do  with  such  a  force?  The 
national  guards  had  only  to  barricade  the  streets 
with  casks,  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  the 
enemy  to  advance  before  he  arrived  to  their 
assistance.  At  8  a.m.,  a  few  leagues  from  Paris, 
he  met  a  column  of  stragglers,  who  stared  at 
him,  and  he  at  them.  "  What  does  this  mean  ?  "  I 
he  demanded.  They  stopped  and  seemed 
stupefied :  "  What !  it  is  the  Emperor  !  "  2  They 
informed  him  that  they  had  retreated  through 
Paris  ;  he  was  still  confident  of  success.  His 
army  burned  with  desire  to  attack  the  enemy 
and  to  drive  them  out  of  the  capital.  He  knew 
very  well  what  Schwarzenberg  would  risk,  and 
the  composition  of  the  allied  army  compared 
with  his  own  ;  that  Schwarzenberg  never  would 
hazard  a  general  battle  with  Paris  in  his  rear, 
but  would  take  a  defensive  position  on  the  other 
side.  He  himself  would  have  engaged  the 
enemy  at  various  points  for  two  or  three  hours, 
then  have  marched  with  his  30  battalions  of 
guards  and  80  pieces  of  cannon,  himself  at  the 
head,  upon  one  part  of  their  force.  Nothing 
could  have  withstood  that  ;  and  although  his 
inferiority  of  numbers  would  not  have  enabled 

1  "  Qu'est-ce  que  c'est  que  cela?  " 

2  "  Quoi !  c'est  1'Empereur  ! " 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO   ELBA     83 

him  to  hope  for  a  complete  victory,  yet  he  should 
have  succeeded  in  killing  a  great  number  of  the 
enemy  and  in  forcing  them  to  abandon  Paris  and 
its  neighbourhood.  What  he  would  afterward 
have  done  must  have  depended  on  various  cir- 
cumstances. Who  could  have  supposed  that  the 
senate  would  have  dishonoured  themselves  by 
assembling  under  the  force  of  20,000  foreign 
bayonets  (a  timidity  unexampled  in  history),  and 
that  a  man  who  owed  everything  to  him — who 
had  been  his  aide-de-camp,  and  attached  to  him 
for  twenty  years — would  have  betrayed  him  !  * 
Still,  it  was  only  a  fraction  which  ruled  Paris 
under  the  influence  of  the  enemy's  force  ;  the 
rest  of  the  nation  was  for  him.  The  army  would, 
almost  to  a  man,  have  continued  to  fight  for  him, 
but  with  so  great  an  inferiority  in  point  of  num- 
bers that  it  would  have  been  certain  destruction 
to  many  of  his  friends  and  a  war  for  years.  He 
preferred,  therefore,  to  sacrifice  his  own  rights. 

1  This  was  Marmont,  Duke  of  Ragusa,  who  marched  his 
division,  some  12,000  strong,  into  the  allied  lines  near 
Essonne.  The  French  troops  afterwards  coined  the  verb 
raguser — i.e.,  "to  betray."  The  Duke  of  Wellington  thought 
that,  previous  to  Marmont's  defection,  Napoleon's  chances 
of  winning  a  victory  over  the  allies  near  Paris  were  by  no 
means  desperate.  See  Stanhope's  "Conversations  with  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,"  p.  8.— J.  H.  R. 


84  NAPOLEOWS  LAST   VOYAGES 

It  was  not  for  the  sake  of  a  crown  that  he  had 
continued  the  war ;  it  was  for  the  glory  of 
France,  and  not  for  the  sake  of  plans  which  he 
saw  no  prospect  of  realising.  He  had  wished 
to  make  France  the  first  nation  in  the  world  ; 
now  it  was  at  an  end.  "  I  have  abdicated  ;  at 
present  I  am  a  dead  man  ! "  I  He  repeated  the 
latter  phrase  several  times.  In  remarking  on  his 
confidence  in  his  own  troops  and  the  Old  Guard, 
and  on  the  want  of  union  among  the  allies,  he 
referred  to  Colonel  Campbell  to  say  candidly 
if  it  were  not  so.  Colonel  Campbell  told  him 
it  was  ;  that  he  had  never  seen  any  considerable 
portion  of  the  French  army,  but  every  one  spoke 
of  the  Emperor  and  his  Old  Guard  as  if  there 
was  something  more  than  human  about  them. 
Napoleon  said  that  the  inferiority  which  he 
conceived  of  Schwarzenberg's  army  was  justly 
founded — it  had  no  confidence  in  itself  or  in  its 
allies ;  each  party  thought  he  did  too  much,  and 
his  allies  too  little,  and  that  they  were  half- 
beaten  before  they  closed  with  the  French.  He 
sneered  at  Marmont's  anxiety  for  his  life  :  "  Was 
there  ever  anything  so  artless  as  that  capitula- 
tion ?  "  2  Marmont  wished  to  protect  his  person, 

1  "  J'ai  abdique ;    a  present  je  suis  un  homme  mort ! " 

2  "  Fut-il  jamais  rien  si  naif  que  cette  capitulation  ?  " 


NAPOLEOJSTS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     85 

but  deserted,  leaving  him  and  the  whole  of  his 
comrades  open  to  the  surprise  of  the  enemy  ;  for 
it  was  his  corps  which  covered  the  whole  front. 
The  night  previous  Marmont  said  to  him,  "  I 
answer  for  my  corps  d'arme'e."  J  So  he  might. 
The  officers  and  soldiers  were  enraged  when 
they  found  what  had  been  done — 8,000  infantry, 
3,000  cavalry,  and  60  pieces  of  cannon.  "  Voila 
rhistoire  / "  He  animadverted  on  Marmont's 
conduct  before  Paris,  saying,  "Who  ever  heard 
of  such  a  thing — two  hundred  pieces  of  artillery 
in  the  Champs  de  Mars  and  only  sixty  on  the 
heights  of  Montmartre ! "  General  Dalheme 
asked  if  he  had  not  fought  with  vigour.2 

This  was  nearly  all  that  passed  at  that  time. 
After  accompanying  him  into  another  room,  he 
resumed  the  conversation,  enlarging  upon  the 
general  state  of  his  army  and  the  policy  of 
France.  He  seemed  to  repent  his  abdication, 

1  "  Pour  mon  corps  d'armee  j'en  reponds." 

2  It   has   generally   been   recognised    that    Marmont   and 
Mortier  made  a  creditable  defence  of  Paris  on  the   side   of 
Montmartre.     The  city  was  largely  disaffected,  and  there  were 
no  regular  fortifications.     As  to  the  disposition  of  the  cannon, 
Napoleon  had  been  misinformed.     For  the  dispositions  of  the 
French  on  March  30,  1814,  see  Houssaye,  "  1814,"  pp.  484-6. 
There    were    certainly    80    cannon    on     Montmartre.     The 
defenders   numbered   42,000   men,   while   the  allies   had  in 
all  about  111,000. — J.  H.  R. 


86  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

and  said  that  had  he  known  that  it  was  owing 
only  to  the  treachery  of  Augereau  that  his  army 
fell  back  behind  Lyons,  he  would  have  united  his 
own  to  it  even  after  Marmont's  capitulation.1 
He  animadverted  strongly  upon  the  conduct  of 
Augereau,  yet  he  met  him  with  all  the  kindness 
of  a  friend.  The  first  idea  of  his  defection  struck 
him  after  separating  from  him  on  the  road 
between  Valence  and  Lyons.  The  spirit  of  the 
troops  was  such  that  he  durst  not  remain  among 
them,  for  on  his  arrival  many  old  soldiers  and 
officers  came  up  to  him  weeping,  and  said  they 
had  been  betrayed  by  Augereau,  and  requested 
Napoleon  to  put  himself  at  their  head.  He  had 
an  army  of  30,000  fine  men,  many  of  them  from 
the  army  of  Spain,  which  ought  to  have  kept  its 
ground  against  the  Austrians.  He  again  spoke 
of  Marmont's  defection,  saying  that  it  was  re- 
ported to  him  in  the  morning,  but  that  he  did 
not  believe  it ;  that  he  rode  out  and  met  Berthier, 
who  confirmed  it  from  an  undoubted  source.  He 
referred  to  the  armistice  between  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  and  Talleyrand,  saying  that  he  thought 

1  Whether  Augereau  was  guilty  of  treachery  or  only  of 
extreme  slackness  at  and  near  Lyons  is  not  fully  proven. 
The  marshal  was  aged,  and  had  never  been  himself  since  his 
severe  wound  at  Eylau  (1807). — J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEONS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     87 

the  allies  were  pursuing  a  bad  policy  with  regard 
to  France  by  reducing  her  so  much,  for  it 
would  wound  the  pride  of  every  man  there.1 
They  might  have  left  her  much  more  power 
without  any  risk  of  seeing  her  again  on  an 
equality  with  several  other  powers. 

France  had  no  longer  any  fleet  or  colonies  ; 
a  peace  would  not  restore  ships  or  San  Domingo. 
Poland  no  longer  existed,  nor  Venice  ;  these 
went  to  aggrandise  Russia  and  Austria.  Spain, 
which  is  the  natural  enemy  of  Great  Britain, 
more  so  than  of  France,  was  incapable  of  doing 
anything  as  an  ally.  If  to  these  sacrifices  were 
added  that  of  a  disadvantageous  treaty  of  com- 
merce with  Great  Britain,  the  people  of  France 
would  not  remain  tranquil  under  it,  "  not  even 
six  months  after  the  foreign  powers  have  quitted 
Paris."2  He  then  remarked  that  a  month  had 
already  elapsed,  and  the  King  of  France  had 
not  yet  come  over  to  the  people  who  had  placed 
him  on  the  throne.  He  said  England  now  would 
do  as  she  pleased ;  the  other  powers  were  nothing 

1  The  return  of  France  to  the  "ancient  limits,"  those   of 
1791,  was  decided,  not  by  the  Treaty  of  Fontainebleau  (April 
n,   1814),  but  by  the   Treaty   of  Paris   (May   30,   1814). — 
J.  H.  R, 

2  "  Pas  meme  six  mois  apres  que  les  puissances  e"trangeres 
quitterent  Paris." 


88  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

in  comparison.  "  For  twenty  years  at  least  no 
power  can  make  war  against  England,  and  she 
will  do  as  she  wishes." l  Holland  would  be 
entirely  subservient  to  her.  The  armistice  gave 
no  information  as  to  the  ships  at  Antwerp  or  in 
the  Texel.  "  The  brave  Verhuel  continues  to 
defend  himself."2  (This  admiral  commanded 
the  ships  at  Antwerp.)  He  then  enumerated 
the  ships  he  had'  in  each  of  the  ports,  saying 
that  in  three  or  four  years  he  would  have  had 
three  hundred  sail  of  the  line — "What  a  diffe- 
rence for  France  !  "  3  with  many  other  remarks  in 
the  same  strain. 

Colonel  Campbell  remarked,  "  But  we  do  not 
know  why  your  Majesty  wishes  to  annihilate 
us."  He  laughed  and  replied,  "  If  I  had  been 
minister  of  England,  I  would  have  tried  to 
make  her  the  greatest  power  in  the  world.  "4 
Napoleon  frequently  spoke  of  the  invasion  of 

1  "  Pour  vingt  annees  au  moins  aucune  puissance  ne  peut 
faire  guerre  centre  1'Angleterre,  et  elle  fera  ce  qu'elle  veut." 

3  "  Le  brave  Verhuel  se  defend  toujours." 

3  "  Quelle  difference  pour  la  France." 

*  "Si  j'avais  ete  ministre  d'Angleterre,  j'aurais  tache  d'en 
faire  la  plus  grande  puissance  du  monde."  It  is  said  that  in 
1794  Napoleon  was  on  the  point  of  offering  his  services  to 
the  British  East  India  Company;  but  there  seems  to  be  no 
documentary  proof  of  this. — J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     89 

England;  that  he  never  intended  to  attempt  it 
without  a  superiority  of  fleet  to  protect  the 
flotilla.  This  superiority  would  have  been  at- 
tained for  a  few  days  by  leading  ours  out  to 
the  West  Indies,  and  suddenly  returning.  If 
the  French  fleet  arrived  in  the  Channel  three 
or  four  days  before  ours,  it  would  be  sufficient. 
The  flotilla  would  immediately  push  out,  accom- 
panied by  the  fleet,  and  the  landing  might  take 
place  on  any  part  of  the  coast,  as  he  would  march 
direct  to  London.  He  preferred  the  coast  of 
Kent,  but  that  must  have  depended  on  wind 
and  weather ;  he  would  have  placed  himself  at 
the  disposal  of  naval  officers  and  pilots,  to  land 
the  troops  wherever  they  thought  they  could  do 
so  with  the  greatest  security  and  in  the  least 
time.  He  had  1,000,000  men,  and  each  of  the 
flotilla  had  boats  to  land  them ;  artillery  and 
cavalry  would  soon  have  followed,  and  the  whole 
could  have  reached  London  in  three  days.  He 
armed  the  flotilla  merely  to  lead  us  to  suppose 
that  he  intended  it  to  fight  its  way  across  the 
Channel;  it  was  only  to  deceive  us.1  It  was 

1  See  Introduction,  pp.  15,  16.  Of  course  the  "  1,000,000 
men  "  refer  to  the  total  forces  of  the  French  Empire.  The 
"Army  of  England  "  encamped  at  and  near  Boulogne  numbered 
about  120,000  men.  It  is  quite  certain  that  at  first ',  in  1803, 


90  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

observed  that  we  expected  to  be  treated  with 
great  severity  in  case  of  his  succeeding,  and  he 
was  asked  what  he  would  have  done  had  he 
arrived  in  London.  He  said  it  was  a  difficult 
question  to  answer ;  for  a  people  with  spirit 
and  energy,  like  the  English,  was  not  to  be 
subdued  even  by  taking  the  capital.  He  would 
certainly  have  separated  Ireland  from  Great 
Britain,  and  the  occupying  of  the  capital  would 
have  been  a  death-blow  to  our  funds,  credit, 
and  commerce.  He  asked  me  to  say  frankly 
whether  we  were  not  alarmed  at  his  preparation 
for  invading  England. 

He  entered  into  a  long  conversation  with 
Comte  Drouot,  who  was  with  Admiral  Ville- 
neuve  in  the  action  with  Sir  Robert  Calder,  and 
said  that  Villeneuve  was  not  wanting  either  in 
zeal  or  talents,  but  was  impressed  with  a  great 
idea  of  the  British  navy.  After  the  action,  he 
was  entreated  by  all  the  officers  to  pursue  the 
British  squadron  and  to  renew  the  action. 
Napoleon  said  that  about  the  end  of  the  cam- 
paign of  1804,  before  England  had  seized  the 

he  believed  that  the  flotilla  of  armed  vessels  and  small  boats 
could  fight  its  way  across.  But  the  advice  of  his  admirals 
finally  convinced  him  that  the  convoy  of  a  fleet  was  necessary. 
Hence  the  elaborate  naval  schemes  of  1804-1805. — J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEONS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     91 

Spanish  galleons,  and  before  he  had  obtained 
from  Spain  an  entire  and  frank  co-operation, 
having  then  no  auxiliary  but  the  Dutch,  he 
wished  to  run  the  Toulon  fleet  through  the 
Straits,  unite  it  to  six  sail  of  the  line  at 
Rochefort,  and  to  the  Brest  fleet,  which  con- 
sisted of  twenty-three  sail  of  the  line,  and  with 
this  combined  force  to  appear  before  Boulogne, 
there  to  be  joined  by  the  Dutch  fleet,  thus 
securing  the  passage  and  landing  of  his  troops. 
He  said  he  was  diverted  from  his  intentions  by 
the  Austrians.1 

At  the  death  of  Admiral  de  la  Touche- 
Treville,  one  of  his  ablest  admirals,  Villeneuve 
was  appointed  commander-in-chief  at  Toulon, 
and  hoisted  his  flag  on  the  Bucentaure.2-  His 
squadron  consisted  of  four  So-gun  ships,  eight 
74-gun  ships,  six  frigates,  and  7,000  troops. 
On  March  30,  1805,  Admiral  Villeneuve  sailed 
from  Toulon,  and  on  April  7  was  before  Car- 
thagena,  waiting  a  reinforcement  of  six  Spanish 

1  The  action  between  Calder  and  Villeneuve  took  place  off 
Cape  Finisterre  on  July  22,  1805.     Not  till  August  22-29  did 
Austria's  preparations  cause   him   seriously   to   consider   the 
abandonment  of  his  projects  of  invasion  of  England.     This  is 
made  quite  clear  by  his  letter  written  on  those  days. — J.  H.  R. 

2  La  Touche-Treville  died  at  Toulon  on  August  20,  1804. — 
J.  H.  R. 


92  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

sail  of  the  line.  These  ships  not  being  ready, 
he  pursued  his  course  about  the  middle  of  April, 
appeared  before  Gibraltar,  and  chased  Sir  John 
Orde,  who,  with  five  sail  of  the  line,  was  before 
Cadiz. 

Admiral  Villeneuve  was  joined  by  a  seventy- 
four  and  two  corvettes,  and  by  Admiral  Gra- 
vina  with  six  sail  of  the  line  and  2,000  troops, 
making  eighteen  sail  of  the  line  in  all.  May  9, 
Villeneuve  opened  his  sealed  orders,  and  gave 
Admiral  Gravina  his  instructions,  which  were 
to  separate  with  his  squadron,  reinforce  the 
garrison  of  Porto  Rico  and  Havana,  and  re- 
join him  at  a  prescribed  rendezvous.  Ville- 
neuve anchored  at  Martinique  on  May  14,  and 
heard  that  Admiral  Missiessy  had  just  left  the 
West  Indies.  Missiessy  sailed  from  Rochefort 
June  n,  his  squadron  consisting  of  six  sail  of 
the  line,  three  frigates,  and  3,000  troops,  his 
flag-ship  being  the  Majestueux.* 

Napoleon  said  he  was  visiting  the  fortresses 
on  the  Rhine  when  he  wrote  the  orders  for 

1  This  account  is  correct  in  nearly  all  particulars,  but 
Missiessy  sailed  from  Rochefort  on  January  u,  1805,  not 
June  ii.  For  Napoleon's  powers  of  memory,  see  Lord 
Holland,  "Foreign  Reminiscences,"  pp.  272-3,  and  Chaptal, 
"Souvenirs,"  pp.  334-6.— J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     93 

these  expeditions — the  first  to  reinforce  Mar- 
tinique and  Guadaloupe,  and  to  take  Dominica 
and  St.  Lucia ;  the  second  to  take  Surinam 
and  its  dependencies,  and  to  strengthen  San 
Domingo;  the  third  to  St.  Helena.1  It  was 
before  he  quitted  Milan  to  visit  the  depart- 
ments of  the  East  that  he  learned  of  the 
return  of  the  Rochefort  squadron.  He  blamed 
the  precipitation  with  which  Dominica  had  been 
abandoned.2  He  saw  in  this  fortunate  cruise 
the  advantage  he  had  gained ;  he  felicitated 
himself  in  having  concealed  the  secret  of  the 
destination  of  Villeneuve ;  still,  he  was  uneasy 
about  Nelson.  In  his  despatch  written  at  the 
moment  of  his  departure  from  Milan  he  said  : 
"  It  is  uncertain  what  Nelson  intends  doing. 
It  is  very  possible  that  the  English,  having 
sent  a  strong  squadron  to  the  East  Indies, 

1  Napoleon's  orders  for  these  expeditions  were  written  on 
September   29,    1804,  at  Mainz   (Mayence).     See  Napoleon 
"  Correspondance,"   vol.  ix.,  No.   8060.     Surinam,  in  Dutch 
Guiana,  fell  to  a  British   force   in  May,   1804.     See  James, 
"Naval  History,"  vol.  iii.  p.  297. — J.  H.  R. 

2  General  Lagrange,  with  the  troops  on  board  Missiessy's 
squadron,  took  part   of  the  island  of  Dominica,  but,  failing 
to  reduce  Prince  Rupert  Fort,  sailed  away  (February,  1805). 
See  James,  "  Naval  History,"  vol.  iv.  p.  79,  and  Napoleon, 
"Correspondance,"   No.    8846,    vol.   x.   (June    6,    1805). — 
J.  H.  R. 


94  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

have  ordered  Nelson  to  America.  I  am,  how- 
ever, of  the  opinion  that  he  is  still  in  Europe  ; 
the  most  natural  supposition  is  that  he  has  re- 
turned to  England  to  refit,  and  to  turn  his  men 
over  to  other  vessels,  as  some  of  his  ships  need 
docking."  l  He  impressed  on  the  mind  of  the 
Minister  of  Marine  the  importance  he  attached 
to  Villeneuve's  having  the  means  of  victualling 
the  fleet  at  Ferrol.  He  said,  with  respect  to 
the  Rochefort  squadron,  that  the  English  would 
no  doubt  send  a  squadron  after  them.  "  One 
must  not  calculate  upon  what  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
admiralty  to  do,  with  100,000  men  at  Boulogne, 
seven  sail  of  the  line  in  the  Texel,  with  an  army 
of  30,000  men  and  a  fleet  of  twenty-two  sail  of 
the  line  at  Brest.  It  may  happen  that  Ville- 
neuve  will  return  suddenly  ;  but  he  might  also 
direct  his  course  to  India  or  to  Jamaica.  What 
responsibility,  then,  weighs  on  the  heads  of  the 
ministry  if  they  allow  months  to  pass  without 
sending  a  force  to  protect  the  colonies!  It  is 
scarcely  probable  that  England  can  at  any  time 
assemble  sixty-five  sail  of  the  line.  Word  must 
be  sent  to  Villeneuve  the  moment  he  arrives 

1  These  sentences  occur  in  Napoleon's  letter  from  Milan 
(June  9,  1805)  to  Vice- Admiral  Decres,  "  Correspondence," 
vol.  x.,  No.  8871.—;.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     95 

at  Ferrol,  as  nothing  gives  greater  courage 
and  clears  the  ideas  so  well  as  knowing  the 
position  of  the  enemy. 

"It  is  true  that  the  English  have  in  sail 
of  the  line,  of  which  three  are  guard-ships, 
and  sixteen  prison-ships  and  hospitals.  There 
remain,  then,  ninety-two,  out  of  which  twenty 
are  undergoing  repairs  (that  is,  not  ready  for 
sea) ;  there  remain  seventy-two,  the  disposition 
of  which  is,  probably,  eight  or  ten  in  India,  three 
or  four  at  Jamaica,  three  or  four  at  Barbadoes, 
making  fourteen  or  eighteen,  leaving  fifty-four 
or  fifty-eight  with  which  it  is  necessary  to  block- 
ade Cadiz,  Ferrol,  and  Brest,  and  to  follow 
Villeneuve  and  Missiessy.  The  following  is  the 
state  of  our  force :  Twenty-two  at  Brest,  fifteen 
at  Cadiz,  twelve  at  Ferrol,  twenty  with  Ville- 
neuve, one  at  Lorient,  five  with  Missiessy — 
total  seventy-five.  The  fifteen  at  Cadiz  occupy 
only  five  English  ;  deduct  ten  from  seventy-five, 
there  remain  sixty-five  which  could  be  united. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  that  the  English  at  any 
time  can  assemble  sixty-five." 

Villeneuve,  having  sailed  to  the  West  Indies, 
was  pursued  by  Nelson.  He  left  the  anchorage 
at  Martinique  on  May  21,  captured  a  convoy 
off  Barbadoes,  and  another  off  the  Azores,  fell 


96  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

in  with  and  captured  a  privateer,  with  a  rich 
prize,  a  galleon.  He  was  afterward  reinforced 
by  Admiral  Magon  de  Clos-Dore*,  with  two  sail 
of  the  line,  and  received  from  him  instructions 
to  proceed  to  Ferrol,  where  he  could  be  rein- 
forced by  five  sail  of  the  line  under  the  command 
of  Rear-Admiral  Gourdon,  and  six  sail  of  the 
line  (Spaniards,  under  the  command  of  Gran- 
delina),  and  a  third  squadron  under  the  command 
of  Rear-Admiral  Lallemand,  consisting  of  five 
sail  of  the  line  (formerly  under  the  command 
of  Missiessy).  It  was  with  this  fleet  of  about 
forty  sail  of  the  line  that  Villeneuve,  driving 
away  Admiral  Cornwallis  from  Brest,  would 
necessarily  open  the  passage  for  Admiral  Gan- 
theaume,  who  had  twenty-two  sail  of  the  line, 
and  form  at  the  entrance  to  the  Channel  sixty- 
two  sail  of  the  line,  six  3-deckers,  nine  So-gun 
ships,  and  forty-seven  seventy-fours,  for  the 
purpose  of  covering  the  2,283  transports  of 
which  the  flotilla  consisted.  Such  was  Napoleon's 
plan,  the  execution  of  which  was  defeated  by 
Villeneuve,  who  after  the  action  with  Sir  Robert 
Calder,  went  into  Vigo,  landed  his  wounded, 
and,  leaving  three  sail  of  the  line  there,  ran 
into  Corunna,  where  he  was  reinforced  by  six 
sail  of  the  line  (French),  and  ten  sail  of  the 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     97 

line  (Spanish),  making  thirty-one  sail  of  the 
line.1 

Napoleon  was  at  Boulogne  at  that  time,  and 
learned  from  England  the  situations  of  the 
different  squadrons.  He  ordered  Gantheaume 
to  anchor  at  Brest,  and  to  be  ready  to  join 
Villeneuve  with  the  twenty-two  sail  of  the  line, 
three  of  them  3-deckers.  August  21  Gan- 
theaume anchored  in  the  bay.  August  10,  the 
wind  being  easterly,  Villeneuve,  having  been 
reinforced  by  the  French  and  Spanish  squadrons 
under  Gourdon,  Gravina,  and  Grandelina,  an- 
chored in  the  bay  of  Anas,  near  Ferrol,  and 
put  to  sea.  The  i3th,  nothing  being  then  in 
sight,  he  first  steered  north-west,  suddenly 
changed  his  course  to  the  south,  out  of  sight 
of  land,  cruised  four  days  off  St.  Vincent,  and 
entered  Cadiz  the  2ist,  the  very  day  that  he 
was  expected  at  Brest.  Lord  Collingwood  was 
before  Cadiz  with  four  sail  of  the  line ;  was 
surprised  and  narrowly  escaped. 

While  this  was  going  on,  Admiral  Lallemand, 

1  For  this  battle  of  July  22,  1805,  off  Cape  Finisterre,  and 
Villeneuve's  subsequent  proceedings,  see  James,  "Naval 
History,"  vol.  iii.  pp.  356-375;  and  Mahan,  "Influence  of 
Sea  Power  on  the  French  Revolution  and  Empire,"  vol.  ii. 
pp.  169-174.  In  the  account  given  above  Vigo  is  wrongly 
substituted  for  Ferrol. — J.  H.  R. 

7 


98  NAPOLEOWS  LAST   VOYAGES 

with  four  sail  of  the  line,  was  cruising  in  the  Bay 
of  Biscay.  His  orders  were  to  cruise  for  a  certain 
period,  then  to  wait  in  a  particular  latitude  for 
orders,  and,  if  none  reached  him,  to  proceed  to 
Vigo,  the  1 3th,  in  order  to  reinforce  Villeneuve. 
He  executed  his  orders  punctually,  and  anchored 
on  the  1 6th,  two  days  after  Villeneuve  had  sailed, 
who,  although  he  expected  this  reinforcement, 
had  left  no  orders  for  Lallemand,  compromising 
by  this  extraordinary  conduct  the  safety  of  the 
squadron.  Lallemand,  finding  no  orders,  put  to 
sea  again,  and  cruised  till  December  24.  He 
took  a  5o-gun  ship,  a  sloop  of  war,  and 
anchored  at  Rochefort  the  24th  of  December. 
Napoleon  was  at  Boulogne  when  he  learned 
from  England  the  certainty  of  Villeneuve's 
arrival  at  Cadiz.  He  was  furious,  saying,  "  It 
is  treason." 

Villeneuve,  before  leaving  Ferrol,  said  that  he 
was  going  to  Brest,  and  even  wrote  to  Lallemand, 
who  was  to  meet  him  at  Vigo.  Notwithstanding 
that  he  expected  this  squadron  at  Vigo,  he  passed 
the  harbour  without  sending  in.  Napoleon 
ordered  the  Minister  of  Marine  to  make  a  report 
of  these  proceedings.1 

1  Villeneuve's  reason  for  sailing  to  Cadiz  was  that  the  wind 
was  north-east,  and  that  he  heard  that  a  superior  British 


NAPOLEONS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     99 

May  26. — Napoleon  had  been  so  long  expect- 
ing his  troops,  baggage,  horses,  &c.,  that  he 
began  at  length  to  show  signs  of  impatience,  and 
to  suspect  the  good  faith  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment ;  but  when  I  informed  him  that  our  transports 
were  engaged,  and  might  shortly  be  expected  at 
Elba,  he  seemed  satisfied,  complimented  us  on 
our  generosity,  and  added  that  had  he  known 
that  our  ships  were  to  bring  his  troops,  he  should 
not  have  had  a  moment's  uneasiness.  I  dined 
with  Napoleon  the  following  day.  While  at  table 
a  servant  announced  one  of  my  officers,  who 
wished  to  see  me.  It  was  an  officer  whom  I  had 
stationed  at  a  signal  fort  that  I  had  established 
on  a  commanding  height.  He  reported  seven 
sail  in  the  north-west  quarter,  standing  toward  the 
island.  I  had  no  doubt  from  the  number  of 

force  was  in  front  of  him.     His  prudence  has  been  generally 
censured.     See  Mahan,  op.  cit.  vol.  ii.  p.  180. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  length  of  this  conversation  is 
suspicious.  No  date  is  assigned  to  it,  and  it  seems  to  be  a 
rtsume  of  several  talks.  On  May  1 7  Captain  Ussher,  with  his 
ship  the  Undaunted,  sailed  from  Elba  to  Frejus  in  order  to 
bring  back  Princess  Pauline  Borghese  (nle  Bonaparte).  See  the 
"Journal"  of  Sir  Neil  Campbell,  pp.  232,  236.  It  is  strange 
that  Ussher  does  not  mention  this  circumstance.  Perhaps 
the  conversation  was  written  down  on  that  cruise.  The 
Princess  was  brought  from  Villa  Franca  by  a  Neapolitan 
frigate.— J.  H.  R. 


ioo  NAPOLEOWS  LAST   VOYAGES 

vessels,  and  the  course  that  they  were  taking, 
that  they  were  the  long-expected  transports. 

Napoleon  almost  immediately  rose  from  the 
table,  and  I  accompanied  him  to  his  garden, 
which  with  his  house  occupies  the  highest  part 
of  the  works,  and  has  a  commanding  view  of  the 
sea  toward  Italy  and  the  coast  of  France.  Full 
of  anxiety,  he  stopped  at  the  end  of  every  turn, 
and  looked  eagerly  for  the  vessels.  We  walked 
till  it  was  quite  dark ;  he  was  very  communica- 
tive, and  his  conversation  highly  interesting.  It 
was  now  near  midnight.  I  told  him  that  with  a 
good  night-glass  I  should  be  able  to  see  them  ; 
for  with  the  breeze  they  had  they  could  not  be 
very  far  from  the  island.  He  brought  me  a  very 
fine  night-glass,  made  by  Donaldson,  which 
enabled  me  to  see  the  vessels  distinctly.  They 
were  lying  to.  He  was  much  pleased,  and  in  the 
highest  spirits  wished  me  good-night. 

At  four  in  the  morning  he  was  out  again  giving 
orders.  I  was  awakened  by  the  beating  of  drums 
and  cries  of  "  Vive  ZEmpereur !"  He  ordered 
the  harbour-master  and  pilots  out  to  the  trans- 
ports, made  arrangements  for  the  comfort  of  his 
troops,  and  provided  stables  for  one  hundred 
horses.  At  about  seven  o'clock  the  troops 
were  landed,  and  paraded  before  Napoleon, 


NAPOLEOWS  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     101 

who  addressed  every  officer  and  private.  They 
appeared  delighted  at  seeing  their  Emperor  again. 
Among  the  officers  were  several  Poles,  remark- 
ably fine  young  men.  At  eight  o'clock  I  ordered 
half  the  crew  of  the  Undaunted  to  be  sent  on 
board  the  transports,  and  by  four  o'clock  the 
whole  of  the  baggage,  carriages,  horses,  &c.,  was 
landed,  and  the  transports  were  ready  for  sea. 
During  the  entire  operation  Napoleon  remained 
on  the  quay  under  an  excessively  hot  sun. 

When  I  informed  him  that  everything  was 
landed,  and  that  the  transports  were  ready  for 
sea,  he  expressed  surprise,  and  said,  pointing  to 
some  Italian  sailors,  "Those  fellows  would  have 
been  eight  days  doing  what  your  men  have  done 
in  so  many  hours  ;  besides,  they  would  have 
broken  my  horses'  legs,  not  one  of  which  has 
received  a  scratch."  General  Cambronne,  who 
came  in  command  of  the  troops,  remained  in 
conversation  with  Napoleon  the  whole  time.1  At 
four  the  Emperor  mounted  his  horse  and  rode 
into  the  country,  and  returned  to  dinner  at  seven. 
At  half-past  seven  he  rose  from  the  table,  and  I 

1  Cambronne  afterwards  at  Waterloo  commanded  a  brigade 
of  the  Imperial  Guard.  He  was  credited  (but  it  seems  on 
insufficient  grounds)  with  uttering  the  noble  phrase  "The 
Guard  dies  but  does  not  surrender." — J.  H.  R. 


102  NAPOLEOJSTS  LAS!    VOYAGES 

accompanied  him  to  his  garden,  where  we  walked 
till  half-past  eleven.  It  was  during  this  conver- 
sation that  I  told  him  it  was  generally  thought 
in  England  that  he  intended  to  rebuild  Jerusalem, 
and  that  which  gave  rise  to  the  supposition  was 
his  convoking  of  the  Sanhedrim  of  the  Jews  at 
Paris.1  He  laughed,  and  said  the  Sanhedrim  was 
convoked  for  other  purposes  ;  it  collected  Jews 
who  came  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  but  par- 
ticularly from  Poland,  and  from  them  he  obtained 
information  of  the  state  of  Poland.  He  added 
that  they  gave  him  much  useful  information,  that 
they  were  well  informed  as  to  the  real  state  of 
the  country  on  every  point,  and  possessed  all  the 
information  he  wanted,  and  which  he  was  able  to 
turn  to  account,  and  found  to  be  perfectly  correct. 
Great  numbers  came  to  Paris  on  that  occasion, 
among  them  several  Jews  from  England. 

In  talking  of  his  marshals,  he  seemed  to  regret 
that  he  had  not  allowed  some  of  them  to  retire. 
He  said  they  wanted  retirement.  He  ought  to 
have  promoted  a  batch  of  young  men,  who  would 

1  Napoleon  organised  the  Jewish  community  because  he 
desired  to  make  use  of  their  financial  power.  A  curious  story 
is  told  respecting  the  convocation  of  the  Sanhedrim  by  Chaptal, 
"Mes  Souvenirs  sur  Napoleon,"  p.  243,  showing  Napoleon's 
fatalism.— J.  H.  R. 


w  o 

l! 

f 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     103 

have  been  attached  to  him,  like  Massena.  He 
considered  Gouvion  St.  Cyr  one  of  his  best 
soldiers.1  He  said  Ney  was  a  man  who  lived  on 
fire,  that  he  would  go  into  the  cannon's  mouth 
for  him  if  he  were  ordered  ;  but  he  was  not  a 
man  of  talent  or  education.2  Marmont  was  a  good 
soldier,  but  a  weak  man.  Soult  was  a  talented 
and  good  soldier.  Bernadotte,  he  said,  had 
behaved  ill  on  one  occasion,  and  should  have 
been  tried  by  a  court  martial ;  3  he  did  not  interfere 
or  influence  in  any  way  his  election  by  the 
Swedes.  He  had  a  high  opinion  of  Junot,  who 
stood  at  his  side  while  he  was  writing  a  de- 
spatch on  a  drum-head,  on  the  field  of  battle, 
during  which  time  a  shot  passed,  tearing  up 
the  earth  about  them.4  Junot  remarked  that  it 

1  For  Gouvion  St.  Cyr's  abilities  but  incurable  nonchalance, 
see  Marbot's  "  Memoirs,"  ch.  Ixvi.— J.  H.  R. 

2  Ney  had  not  distinguished  himself  in  the  campaigns  of 
1813-14.     He  was   badly  beaten   by   Biilow   at   Dennewitz, 
September  6,  1813. — J.  H.  R. 

3  This  refers  to  Bernadotte's  supposed  slackness  on  the  day 
of  Jena  (October    14,    1806);   he  has   been   in   part   excul- 
pated by  Foucart,  "  La  Campagne  de  1806,"  pp.  604-606  and 
694-697.—}.  H.  R. 

*  This  incident  occurred  in  one  of  the  forts  in  front  of 
Toulon  in  the  autumn  of  1793.  It  is  said  to  have  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  long  friendship  of  Napoleon  for  Junot. — 
J.  H.  R. 


104  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

was  very  apropos,    as   he    needed   sand   to   dry 
his  ink. 

The  following  morning  I  requested  an  inter- 
view before  taking  leave,  on  my  sailing  from 
Elba  to  join  the  commander-in-chief  at  Genoa. 
He  was  alone  at  the  time.  He  seemed  affected, 
and  requested  me  to  prolong  my  stay  at  Elba, 
and  asked  me  if  the  wind  was  fair  for  Genoa. 
He  said,  "  You  are  the  first  Englishman  I  have 
been  acquainted  with,"  and  spoke  in  a  flattering 
manner  of  England.  He  said  he  felt  under  great 
obligations  to  Sir  Edward  Pellew,  and  requested 
that  I  would  assure  him  of  his  gratitude  for  the 
attention  shown  him ;  that  he  hoped,  when  the 
war  with  America  was  terminated,  I  would  pay 
him  a  visit.  I  told  him  I  had  that  morning 
breakfasted  with  the  Comte  de  Montcabri  on 
board  the  frigate  Dryade  ;  that  he  informed  me 
that  the  Prince  of  Essling  had  had  a  dispute  with 
Sir  Edward  Pellew,  and  that  the  French  Govern- 
ment had,  in  consequence,  some  intention  of 
removing  him  from  the  command  at  Toulon.  He 
remarked  that  he  was  one  of  his  best  marshals, 
a  man  of  superior  talent ;  but  that  his  health  was 
bad  in  consequence  of  bursting  a  blood-vessel. 
I  said  it  was  understood  that  he  was  so  much 
displeased  with  the  conduct  of  the  Prince  of 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     105 

Essling  in  the  Peninsula  that  he  had  ordered 
him  to  Bareges.  He  replied  that  I  was  greatly 
mistaken,  that,  at  the  time  referred  to,  the 
Prince's  health  was  very  delicate,  and  his 
physicians  recommended  him  to  go  to  Nice, 
the  place  of  his  birth,  and  that  after  his  recovery 
he  was  given  the  command  of  Toulon,  which 
was  just  then  vacant.1  I  requested  the  Emperor 
to  allow  me  to  present  Lieutenant  Bailey,  the 
agent  of  transports,  who  had  been  appointed  to 
embark  his  guards,  &c.,  at  Savona.  He  thanked 
Lieutenant  Bailey  for  the  attention  paid  to  his 
troops,  and  for  the  care  which  had  been  taken 
of  his  horses,  and  remarked  how  extraordinary 
it  was  that  no  accident  had  happened  to  them 
(there  were  ninety-three)  either  in  the  embarka- 
tion or  disembarkation,  and  complimented  him 
highly  on  his  skill  and  attention,  adding  that 
our  sailors  exceeded  even  the  opinion  he  had 
long  since  formed  of  them. 

During  this  conversation  Napoleon  gave  a 
remarkable  proof  of  his  retentive  memory,  and 
of  his  information  on  subjects  connected  with 

1  The  Prince  of  Essling  was  Marshal  Massena.  This 
apology  for  him  by  Napoleon  is  very  strained.  It  is  well 
known  that  he  was  disgraced  for  his  failure  in  Portugal  in  the 
campaign  of  Torres  Vedras. — J.  H.  R. 


106  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

naval  matters.  Lieutenant  Bailey  informed  him 
that,  after  the  guards  had  embarked,  a  violent 
gale  of  wind  arose,  with  a  heavy  sea,  which  at 
one  time  threatened  the  destruction  of  the 
transports,  and  that  he  considered  Savona  a 
dangerous  anchorage.  Napoleon  remarked  that 
if  he  had  gone  to  a  small  bay  (I  think  it  was 
Vado)  near  Savona,  he  might  have  lain  there 
in  perfect  safety.1  He  requested  me  to  inform 
the  commander-in-chief  how  much  he  was 
satisfied  with  Lieutenant  Bailey's  kind  and  skilful 
conduct.  He  then  thanked  me  for  my  attention 
to  himself,  and  embracing  me  a  la  Fran$aise, 
said,  "  Adieu,  Captain  !  rely  on  me.  Adieu  !  "  2 
He  seemed  much  affected. 

IN  closing  this,  I  may  say  that  I  have  en- 
deavoured throughout  to  execute  faithfully  and 
zealously  the  somewhat  difficult  mission  with 
which  I  have  been  charged,  but  at  the  same 
time  with  that  deference  and  respect  for  the 
feelings  of  Napoleon  which  have  appeared  to 
me  no  less  due  to  his  misfortunes  than  to  his 
exalted  station  and  splendid  talents. 

1  Bonaparte  in  the   campaigns   of   1794,  1796,  frequently 
made  use  of  the  bay  of  Vado. — J.  H.  R. 

3  "  Adieu,  Capitaine,  comptez  sur  moi.     Adieu  ! " 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     107 

LIST    OF    PERSONS    ACCOMPANYING    THE    EM- 
PEROR NAPOLEON  TO  THE  ISLAND  OF  ELBA. 

General  Roller )A     ,.      „ 

I  Austrian  Envoys. 
Comte  Clam       ) 

Colonel  Campbell       English  Envoy. 

Comte  Bertrand Grand  Marshal  of  the  Palace. 

Comte  Drouot    General  of  Division  and  A. D.C. 

to  the  Emperor. 

Baron  Germanowki    Major  of  the  L.  H.  Guards. 

Chevalier  Foureau      First  Physician  to  the  Emperor 

Chevalier  Baillon        )  ~  r.u-DJu      u 

\  Grooms  of  the  Bedchamber. 
Chevalier  Descnamps ) 

Chevalier  Perusse       Treasurer. 

M.  Gatte      Apothecary. 

M.  Callin     Comptroller  to  the  Household 

M.  Rothery Secretary  to  the  Grand  Marshal. 

M.  Gueval Clerk  to  the  Comptroller. 

M.  Pelard    )  ,r  .  .     ,    ~,       , 

,     __  \  Valets  de  Chambre. 

M.  Hubert ) 

M.  Sotain    Master  of  the  Ceremonies. 

M.  Purron Officer  of  the  Ceremonies. 

M.  Rousset Chief  Cook. 

M.  Lafosse Chief  Baker. 

M.  Gaillard 

M.  Archambault..       ...     . 


M.  Poillett 


.  Valets. 


M.  Berthault       

M.  Villenaine      

Dennis         Keeper  of  the  wardrobe. 

Gandron      \ 

Mathiers      i  Domestics. 

Rousseau     ) 

Armaudrau Rider. 

Noverve       Body-servant. 


io8  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

Besson ) 

Renaud        |  Grooms  of  the  State. 

Chauvin       


Sentini.  <  Couriers' 


NOTE. — When  Colonel  Campbell  arrived  at 
Marseilles  on  April  25,  he  informed  me  that, 
having  been  appointed  by  Lord  Castlereagh  to 
accompany  Napoleon  to  Elba,  he  arrived  at 
Fontainebleau  on  the  i6th,  at  nine  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  He  met  there  Comte  Bertrand, 
who  expressed  the  Emperor's  anxiety  to  proceed 
to  his  destination,  and  his  wish  to  change  the 
place  of  embarkation  from  St.  Tropez  to 
Piombino,  as  there  could  be  no  certainty  of 
his  being  received  by  the  commandant  of 
Elba,  and  by  going  to  Piombino  that  would  be 
previously  ascertained.  If  refused,  he  might 
be  driven  off  the  island  by  tempest  while  waiting 
permission  to  land.  He  expressed  the  hope  that 
Colonel  Campbell  would  remain  at  Elba  until 
his  affairs  were  settled ;  otherwise  an  Algerine 
corsair  might  land  and  do  what  he  pleased.  He 
seemed  much  satisfied  when  Colonel  Campbell 
told  him  that  he  had  Lord  Castlereagh's  instruc- 
tions to  remain  there  for  some  time,  if  necessary 
for  the  security  of  Napoleon.  After  breakfast 
Comte  Flahaut  informed  the  commissioners  that 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     109 

the  Emperor  would  see  them  after  he  had 
attended  mass.  The  commissioners  were  intro- 
duced in  the  following  order  :  Russian  guard, 
Prince  Schoovalof,  who  remained  five  minutes ; 
Austrian  general,  Baron  Roller,  the  same  time  ; 
Comte  Truxo,  Colonel  Campbell,  quarter  of  an 
hour.  Napoleon  asked  Campbell  about  his 
wounds  and  service,  where  his  family  resided, 
and  seemed  very  affable.  Colonel  Campbell 
received  from  Paris  a  copy  of  the  order  from 
General  Dupont,1  Minister  of  War,  to  the 
commandant  at  Elba,  to  give  up  the  island  to 
Napoleon,  taking  away  the  guns,  stores,  &c. 
This  displeased  Napoleon  exceedingly  ;  he  had 
a  conversation  with  General  Roller  on  the 
subject,  and  requested  him  to  send  his  aide-de- 
camp with  a  note  relating  to  it  to  Paris,  wishing 
to  know  how  he  was  to  protect  himself  against 
any  corsair,  and  saying  that  if  this  conduct  was 
continued  he  would  go  to  England.  A  note 
was  presented  to  the  commissioners  by  Comte 
Bertrand,  who  added  verbally  that  the  Emperor 
would  not  disembark  unless  the  guns  were  left 
for  security  and  defence. 

1  General  Dupont  incurred  Napoleon's  lasting  displeasure 
by  surrendering  at  Baylen  in  Andalusia  with  some  23,000 
French  troops  (July  19,  1808).  In  1814  he  went  over  to  the 
Bourbon  cause. — J.  H.  R. 


no  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

April  20. — The  horses  were  ordered  at  9  a.m. 
The  Emperor  desired  to  see  General  Roller. 
He  spoke  warmly  against  the  separation  from 
his  wife  and  child,  also  of  the  order  for  with- 
drawing the  guns  from  Elba,  saying  he  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  provisional  Government ; 
his  treaty  was  with  the  allied  sovereigns,  and 
to  them  he  looked  for  every  act.  He  was  not 
yet  destitute  of  means  to  continue  the  war,  but 
it  was  not  his  wish  to  do  so.  General  Roller 
endeavoured  to  persuade  him  that  the  treaty 
would  be  fulfilled  with  honour.  He  then  sent 
for  Colonel  Campbell,  and  began  a  conversation 
similar  to  the  one  on  the  i6th,  speaking  of 
service,  wounds,  &c.,  the  system  and  discipline 
of  the  British  army,  necessity  of  corporal  punish- 
ment, though  he  thought  it  should  seldom  be 
applied.  He  was  much  satisfied  at  Lord  Castle- 
reagh's  placing  a  British  man-of-war  at  his  dis- 
posal, if  he  wished  it,  for  convoy  or  passage,  and 
complimented  the  nation.  He  then  said  he  was 
ready.  The  Duke  of  Bassano,  General  Belliard, 
Arnano,  and  four  or  five  others  (his  aides-de- 
camp), with  about  twenty  other  officers,  were  in 
the  ante-chamber.  On  entering  the  first  room 
there  were  only  General  Belliard  and  Arnano  ; 
an  aide-de-camp  suddenly  shut  the  door,  so  it 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     in 

is  presumed  he  was  taking  a  particular  leave 
of  them ;  the  door  then  opened,  and  the  aide-de- 
camp called  out,  "  The  Emperor."  He  passed 
with  a  salute  and  smile,  descended  into  the 
court,  addressed  his  guards,  embraced  General 
Petit  and  the  colours,  entered  his  carriage  and 
drove  off. 

April  21. — Slept  at  Brienne  in  a  large  hotel, 
a  good  supper  being  provided.1  The  Emperor 
supped  with  General  Bertrand. 

April  22. — Slept  at  Nevers.  Cries  of  "  Vive 
FEmpereur!"  In  the  morning  he  sent  for 
Colonel  Campbell.  The  table  was  laid  ;  so  he 
desired  the  servant  to  lay  another  cover,  and 
invited  the  Colonel  to  stay  and  breakfast. 
General  Bertrand  also  joined  them.  Napoleon 
asked  Colonel  Campbell  who  commanded  in  the 
Mediterranean.  He  said  he  did  not  know  for 
certain,  but  believed  Sir  Sidney  Smith  was  one 
of  the  admirals.  When  Comte  Bertrand  sat 
down,  he  said,  laughing,  "  Que  pensez-vous, 
Sidney  Smith  amiral  dans  la  Mediterrane'e !  "  2 
He  then  related  Smith's  having  thrown  several 

1  "  Brienne  "  should  be  "  Briare,"  a  town  on  the  Loire,  half- 
way from   Fontainebleau  to   Nevers.     Brienne  is  in  Cham- 
pagne.—J.  H.  R. 

2  "What   do   you    think,   Sidney    Smith    admiral    in   the 
Mediterranean  ! " 


ii2  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

thousand  shot  from  his  ships  on  them  without 
killing  a  man  (this  was  at  Acre).  It  was  his 
great  source,  for  he  paid  much  for  every  shot 
brought  in  by  the  men.  "II  m'  envoya  des 
parlementaires  comme  un  second  Marlborough."  I 
April  23. — Before  the  journey  this  morning, 
he  requested  Colonel  Campbell  to  go  on,  in 
order  to  expedite  the  British  man-of-war,  and 
also  to  write  to  Admiral  Emeriau  at  Toulon  to 
expedite  the  French  corvette.  He  sent  off  to 
Auxerre  to  order  his  heavy  baggage,  with  the 
escort  of  six  hundred  guards  and  horses,  to  go 
by  land  to  Piombino  ;  but  if  that  was  objected 
to,  to  go  by  Lyons,  and  to  drop  down  the  Rhone. 
Colonel  Campbell  proceeded  on  by  Lyons  and 
Aix,  when  he  learned  that  I  was  at  anchor  in 
the  bay  of  Marseilles,  where  he  arrived  the 
evening  of  the  25th.  The  morning  of  the  2Oth 
the  commissioners  communicated  to  Comte  Ber- 
trand  the  facilities  which  had  been  obtained  in 
regard  to  the  several  difficulties  presented  re- 
specting a  director  of  posts  for  the  horses,  and  a 
British  man-of-war  for  convoy  or  conveyance,  and 
a  copy  of  the  order  given  by  General  Dupont. 

1  "He  sent  me  parlementaires  like  a  second  Marl- 
borough."  (" Parlementaire "  means  "the  bearer  of  a  flag 
of  truce." 


NAPOLEON'S  DEPORTATION  TO  ELBA     113 

After  the  formation  of  the  provisional  Govern- 
ment, a  person  was  asked  by  Napoleon  what 
he  thought  of  his  situation,  and  whether  he 
thought  there  were  any  measures  to  be  taken. 
He  replied  in  the  negative.  Napoleon  asked 
what  he  would  do  in  a  similar  situation ;  his 
questioner  said  he  would  blow  out  his  brains. 
The  Emperor  reflected  a  moment.  "  Oui,  je 
puis  faire  cela,  mais  ceux  qui  me  veulent  du  bien 
ne  pourraient  pas  en  profiler,  et  ceux  qui  me 
veulent  du  mal,  cela  leur  ferait  plaisir."  l 

NOTE   BY   BIRGE   HARRISON. 

It  occurred  to  me  that  as  I  was  residing  temporarily  in 
Frejus,  it  might  be  of  interest  to  inquire  if  any  eye-witnesses 
of  the  event  were  still  living  in  the  neighbourhood.  Such  a 
person  I  found  in  M.  Coulis,  a  gentleman  ninety-three  years 
old,  but  unusually  intelligent  and  lucid  in  conversation.  As 
his  account  differs  slightly  from  that  given  by  Admiral  Ussher, 
it  may  be  worth  while  to  put  it  on  record. 

A  slight  temporary  jetty  had  been  erected  at  the  beach  for 
the  occasion,  and  among  those  gathered  near  it  were  he  and 
his  father.  It  was  about  half-past  seven  of  a  bright  moonlight 


1  "  Yes,  I  can  do  that,  but  those  who  wish  me  well  could 
not  profit  by  it,  and  those  who  wish  me  harm  would  be 
pleased." 

If  this  is  correct,  it  helps  to  discredit  the  story  told  by 
Napoleon's  valet,  Constant,  that  his  master  tried  to  poison 
himself  at  Fontainebleau  on  April  12  or  13. — J.  H.  R. 

8 


ii4  NAPOLEOWS  LAST   VOYAGES 

evening  when  the  imperial  party  arrived  upon  the  beach— so 
bright  indeed  that  the  Emperor's  peculiarly  vivid  smile  was 
apparent  to  all  as  he  advanced  from  his  carriage  toward  the 
boat  which  was  awaiting  him.  Just  as  he  put  foot  upon  the 
jetty,  however,  his  countenance  darkened  somewhat,  and, 
turning  to  the  prefect  of  the  Department  of  the  Var,  who  was 
standing  by,  the  Emperor  remarked  : 

"  This  is  still  another  deception.  But  I  should  have  ex- 
pected as  much."  ("  Voici  encore  une  deception.  Mais 
j'aurai  du  m'attendre  a  cela.") 

In  reply  to  my  query  as  to  what  had  provoked  this  parting 
shot  at  a  former  official,  M.  Coulis  said  that  he  supposed  it 
referred  to  his  desertion  by  the  French  corvette  Victorieuse, 
which  was  to  accompany  him  to  Elba  and  to  remain  per- 
manently in  his  service,  but  which  had  sailed  out  of  the  bay 
the  preceding  afternoon  upon  learning  that  the  Emperor  was 
to  go  to  Elba  in  an  English  ship. 

Admiral  Ussher  makes  a  curious  topographical  error  when 
he  states  that  Frejus  "  lies  on  a  height  three  or  four  miles  from 
the  anchorage."  In  point  of  fact,  the  town  is  separated 
from  the  beach  by  a  scant  three-quarters  of  a  mile  of  barren 
sand-dunes. 

FREJUS,  VAR,  FRANCE. 


FRENCH   CARICATURE   ON    THE   TRANSFER   OF   NAPOLEON   FROM   THE 
"  BELLEROPHON  "   TO   THE    "NORTHUMBERLAND." 


To  face  page 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA. 


FROM  A   MANUSCRIPT  DIARY  OF  THE   TRIP, 
WRITTEN  BY  THE  ADMIRALS  SECRETARY. 


Captain  Ross. 


Count  Las  Cases. 

Grand  Marshal 
Count  Bertrand. 

Sir  George  Bingham. 

Officer. 

Officer. 

General  Gourgaud. 


Madame  Montholon. 
Sir  George  Cockburn. 

Bonaparte. 
Countess  Bertrand. 
General  Montholon. 
Any  Stranger. 


Mr.  Glover  (Admiral's  Secretary). 

PLAN  OF  THE  TABLE  DURING  THE  VOYAGE. 
(FROM  MR.  GLOVER'S  MANUSCRIPT.) 

A  NARRATIVE  OF  A  VOYAGE  TO  ST.  HELENA,  PARTICULARLY 
RELATING  TO  THE  ACTIONS  AND  CONVERSATION  OF 
BONAPARTE,  ONCE  THE  SCOURGE  OF  MANKIND,  BUT  NOW 
THE  D&TENU  OF  THAT  NATION  WHOSE  ATTEMPTED 
DESTRUCTION  HAD  BEEN  THE  MAINSPRING  OF  HIS 
ACTIONS  FOR  MANY  YEARS. 

July    26,     1815. — Rear- Admiral    Sir    George 

"5 


n6  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

Cockburn  was  appointed  by  the  Government 
to  convey  Napoleon  Bonaparte  to  St.  Helena, 
which  had  been  selected  as  the  spot  of  all  others 
most  likely  to  secure  him  against  returning  to 
Europe.  The  Northumberland,  Captain  C.  B.  H. 
Ross,  which  ship  was  in  the  Medway,  was  hurried 
round  to  Portsmouth  with  all  possible  expedition. 
She  arrived  there  on  the  3ist,  when  the  utmost 
exertions  were  made  to  complete  her  for  foreign 
service. 

August  2-5. — On  this  day  Sir  George  Cock- 
burn  arrived  at  Portsmouth,  and  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  third,  notwithstanding  the  ship  was  in  the 
greatest  possible  state  of  confusion  (from  the 
hurried  manner  in  which  stores  of  every  descrip- 
tion had  been  put  on  board),  we  sailed  from 
Spithead,  with  the  Bucephalus  and  Ceylon,  troop- 
ships having  on  board  the  second  battalion  of 
the  53rd  Regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel  Sir 
George  Bingham.1  A  company  of  artillery,  com- 

1  The  fact  that  "  stores  of  every  description "  were  put  on 
board  shows  that  the  ship  must  have  had  a  supply  of  fresh 
water.  Some  of  the  Frenchmen  afterwards  complained  that  all 
the  water  on  board  was  stale  and  had  been  to  India  and  back. 

A  diary  kept  by  Sir  George  Bingham,  K.C.B.,  on  board  the 
Northumberland,  and  at  St.  Helena  has  been  published  in 
Blackwootfs  Magazine,  October,  November,  1896,  as  also  in 
Cornhill  of  January,  February,  1901.  It  corroborates  Glover's 
"  Journal "  at  several  points. — J.  H.  R. 


CONTEMPORARY    FRENCH    CARICATURE   ON    THE   END  OF    NAPOLEON'S 
INVASION    OF   ENGLAND   SCHEMES. 


To  face  page  117. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.  HELENA      117 

manded  by  Captain  Greatly,  was  also  on  board 
the  Northumberland.  We  had  calm  weather 
with  light  airs  occasionally,  which  greatly  enabled 
the  ship  being  put  somewhat  to  rights. 

August  6. — About  noon,  when  off  Berry  Head, 
we  discovered  a  squadron  which  proved  to  be  the 
Tonnant,  having  the  flag  of  Lord  Keith,  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  Channel  fleet ;  the  Bellero- 
phon  (having  on  board  Napoleon  Bonaparte  and 
his  suite)  ;  and  the  Eurotas  frigate.  Sir  George 
Cockburn  went  on  board  the  Tonnant  when  the 
squadron  anchored  to  the  westward  of  Berry 
Head.  On  communicating  with  the  Tonnant, 
we  found  that  Lord  Keith  had  sailed  suddenly 
with  his  squadron  from  Plymouth  to  prevent 
any  difficulty  or  unpleasant  consequences  in 
removing  Bonaparte  to  the  Northumberland,  it 
being  understood  that  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus, 
or  subpoena,  had  been  taken  out  to  remove  him 
to  London,  to  appear  as  evidence  at  some  trial, 
in  consequence  of  which  it  was  determined  that 
this  ex-emperor  should  be  removed  at  sea.1 

1  This  affair  of  the  subpoena  seems  to  have  arisen  out  of 
an  article  in  the  leading  Opposition  paper,  the  Morning 
Chronicle,  in  which  a  Mr.  Capel  Lofft  stated  that  Bonaparte, 
having  appealed  to  the  laws  of  Great  Britain,  might  demand 
from  the  Lord  Chancellor  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  Some 
one  then  suggested  the  bringing  of  a  libel  suit  in  London 


n8  NAPOLEOWS  LAST  VOYAGES 

During  the  afternoon  a  conference  was  held  by 
Lord  Keith,  Sir  George  Cockburn,  and  Marshal 
Bertrand,  relative  to  the  transhipment  of  the 
French  party;  and  after  dinner  Lord  Keith, 
accompanied  by  Sir  George  Cockburn,  went  on 
board  the  Better ophon  to  make  known  to  Bona- 
parte that  it  was  necessary  to  remove  him  to 
the  Northumberland  as  quickly  as  possible  and 
convenient,  for  the  purpose  of  being  conveyed  to 
St.  Helena.  Bonaparte  protested  strenuously 
against  this  procedure,  and  the  right  of  the 
British  Government  thus  to  dispose  of  him.1  Sir 
George,  however,  contented  himself  by  observing 
that  as  a  military  officer  he  must  obey  his  instruc- 
tions, and  therefore  expressed  a  hope  that  he 
(Bonaparte)  would  be  ready  to  move  the  next 
day  with  such  of  his  followers  as  it  was  deter- 
mined were  to  accompany  him. 

August  7. — After  breakfast  Sir  George  Cock- 

against  a  naval  officer,  in  which  Napoleon  was  to  be  called 
as  a  witness.  A  lawyer  then  started  for  Plymouth  and  gave 
some  trouble  to  Lord  Keith,  who,  however,  successfully  dodged 
him.  See  "  Narrative  of  Captain  Maitland,"  pp.  161-169,  new 
edit.,  London,  1904  ;  with  an  excellent  note  on  the  futility  of 
the  habeas  corpus  device. — J.  H.  R. 

1  For  his  protest,  see  Allardyce's  "  Memoirs  of  Lord  Keith," 
also  "Napoleonic  Studies,"  by  J.  H.  Rose,  pp.  319-321. — 
J.  H.  R. 


ifts .  s 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      119 

burn  went  again  on  board  the  Bellerophon  to 
examine  the  baggage  of  Bonaparte  and  his 
followers,  at  which  they  were  excessively  in- 
dignant. Nevertheless  everything  was  inspected, 
but  no  one  of  the  French  officers  would  attend. 
All  the  arms  were  delivered  up,  and  4,000 
napoleons  were  detained  by  Sir  George  Cock- 
burn,  and  delivered  to  Captain  Maitland  to 
be  forwarded  to  the  treasury  ;  after  which  the 
luggage  was  transhipped,  and  every  necessary 
arrangement  made.  About  two  o'clock  Bona- 
parte came  on  board  the  Northumberland,  taccom- 
panied  by  Lord  Keith.  On  coming  on  deck 
he  said  to  Sir  George  Cockburn  (in  French), 
"  Here  I  am,  General,  at  your  orders."  He  then 
begged  to  be  introduced  to  the  captain,  and  asked 
the  names  of  the  different  officers  on  deck,  to 
what  regiments  they  belonged,  and  other  questions 
of  trifling  import.  He  then,  with  Sir  George 
Cockburn,  Lord  Keith,  and  some  of  his  followers, 
went  into  the  after  cabin,  where  he  was  left. 
The  following  persons  were  allowed  to  follow 
Bonaparte  into  exile,  and  came  at  the  same  time 
with  him  from  the  Bellerophon,  viz.,  General 
Comte  de  Bertrand,  grand  marshal  of  the 
palace ;  General  de  Montholon ;  General  Gour- 
gaud ;  Comte  Las  Cases,  and  his  son,  about 


i2o  NAPOLEOWS  LAST   VOYAGES 

thirteen  years  of  age ;  Comtesse  de  Bertrand, 
with  three  children ;  Comtesse  de  Montholon, 
with  one  child  ;  three  valets  de  chambre  ; 
three  valets  de  pied  :  a  maitre  d'hotel ;  a  chef 
d'office  ;  a  cook ;  a  porter ;  a  lamp-lighter 
(lampiste) ;  and  a  male  servant  of  Marechal 
Bertrand's.  The  following  persons  were  allowed 
to  come  on  board  from  the  Eurotas  frigate  to 
take  their  final  leave  of  Bonaparte,  viz.,  Lieu- 
tenant -  Colonel  Resigny.  Lieutenant  -  Colonel 
Schultz,  Le  Chef  d'Escadre  Mercher,  Captain 
Autrie,  Captain  Riviere,  Captain  St.  Catherine, 
Captain  Piontkowski,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Plaisir,  the  major  part  of  whom  appeared  affected 
on  quitting  their  quondam  master,  most  parti- 
cularly Piontkowski,  who,  after  using  every 
entreaty  in  vain  to  be  allowed  to  accompany 
Bonaparte,  solicited  most  earnestly  to  be  allowed 
to  become  a  servant.  But  this  was  also  refused, 
and  they  all  returned.1 

The  admiral  after  this  went  into  the  after  cabin 
with  some  of  the  officers,  and,  finding  Bonaparte 

1  The  list  given  on  pp.  137,  138  is  fuller,  but  it  includes  the 
names  of  several  who  were  not  allowed  to  proceed  to  St. 
Helena.  See  note  p.  139.  Piontkowski  was  afterwards  allowed 
to  go  to  St.  Helena  (Captain  Maitland,  "  Narrative,"  ad  Jin.). — 
J.  H.  R. 


NAPOLEON    BONAPARTE. 


•iginal  ail  sketch  by  Sir  Charles  Eastlake,  taken  from 
on  the  deck  of  the  "  Keller  opfiott. 


boat  as  Xafoleon  was  standing 


To  face  page  121. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      121 

seemed  to  assume  an  exclusive  right  to  this  cabin, 
he  desired  Mardchal  Bertrand  to  explain  that 
the  after  cabin  must  be  considered  as  common 
to  us  all,  and  that  the  sleeping-cabin  could  alone 
be  considered  as  exclusively  his.  Bonaparte 
received  this  intimation  with  submission  and 
apparent  good  humour,  and  soon  after  went  on 
deck,  where  he  remained  a  considerable  time, 
asking  various  questions  of  each  officer  of  trifling 
import.  He  particularly  asked  Sir  George 
Bingham  and  Captain  Greatly  to  what  regi- 
ments they  belonged,  and  when  told  that  Captain 
Greatly  belonged  to  the  artillery,  he  replied 
quickly,  "  I  also  belonged  to  the  artillery." 
After  conversing  on  deck  for  some  time,  this 
ex-emperor  retired  to  the  cabin  allotted  him  as 
a  sleeping-cabin,  which  is  about  nine  feet  wide 
and  twelve  feet  long,  with  a  narrow  passage 
leading  to  the  quarter  -  gallery.  The  admiral 
had  a  similar  sleeping-cabin  on  the  opposite 
side.  The  after  cabin  is  our  general  sitting- 
room  and  the  fore  cabin  our  mess-room ;  the 
others  of  the  party  are  accommodated  below  by 
the  captain  and  some  of  the  officers  giving  up 
their  cabins,  and  by  building  others  on  the  main 
deck.  Thus  this  man,  who  but  a  short  time 
since  kept  nations  in  dread,  and  had  thousands 


122  NAPOLEON 'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

at  his  nod,  has  descended  from  the  emperor  to 
the  general  with  a  flexibility  of  mind  more 
easily  to  be  imagined  than  described.  He  is 
henceforth  to  be  styled  general,  and  by  directions 
from  our  Government  he  is  to  have  the  same 
honours  and  respect  paid  him  as  a  British  general 
not  in  employ.1 

Our  mess  now  consists  of  Rear-Admiral  Sir 
George  Cockburn ;  C.  B.  H.  Ross,  captain  of 
the  Northumberland ;  Mr.  J.  R.  Glover,  secre- 
tary to  Sir  George  Cockburn ;  Sir  George  R. 
Bingham,  colonel  of  the  53rd  Regiment  (a 
passenger) ;  General  Bonaparte  ;  Mare'chal  Ber- 
trand;2  Major-Generals  de  Montholon  and 
Gourgaud ;  Le  Comte  de  Las  Cases ;  and 
Mesdames  Montholon  and  Bertrand.  At 
6  p.m.  dinner  was  announced,  when  we  all 
sat  down  in  apparent  good  spirits,  and  our 
actions  declared  our  appetites  fully  equal  to 
those  spirits.  General  Bonaparte  ate  of  every 
dish  at  table,  using  his  fingers  instead  of  a  fork, 
seeming  to  prefer  the  rich  dishes  to  the  plain 

1  The  allied  Governments,   after   Napoleon's  escape  from 
Elba,  proscribed  him,  and,  of  course,  refused  to  grant  to  him 
the  imperial  title  which  was  accorded  to  him  at  Elba. — J.  H.  R. 

2  Bertrand  was  a  general  of  the  army,  but  he  kept  the  title 
of  Grand  Marshal  of  the  Palace.— J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      123 

dressed  food,  and  not  even  tasting  vegetables. 
Claret  was  his  beverage,  which  he  drank  out  of 
a  tumbler,  keeping  the  bottle  before  him.  He 
conversed  the  whole  of  dinner-time,  confining 
his  conversation  principally  to  the  admiral,  with 
whom  he  talked  over  the  whole  of  the  Russian 
campaign,  and  attributed  the  failure  of  it  in  the 
first  instance  to  the  burning  of  Moscow,  in  the 
next  to  the  frost  setting  in  much  sooner  than 
was  expected.  He  said  he  meant  only  to  have 
refreshed  his  troops  for  four  or  five  days,  and 
then  to  have  pushed  on  for  St.  Petersburg ;  but 
finding  all  his  plans  frustrated  by  the  burning 
of  Moscow,  and  his  army  likely  to  perish,  he 
hurried  back  to  Paris,  setting  out  with  a  chosen 
body-guard,  one  half  of  which  was  frozen  to  death 
the  first  night.1  He  said  nothing  could  be  more 
horrible  than  the  retreat  from  Moscow,  and 
indeed  the  whole  of  the  Russian  campaign ; 
that  for  several  days  together  it  appeared  to  him 
as  if  he  were  marching  through  a  sea  of  fire, 
owing  to  the  constant  succession  of  villages  in 

1  All  this  is  put  very  loosely.  He  set  out  from  Moscow  on 
October  19.  The  season  was  much  more  open  than  usual. 
Cold  weather  did  not  set  in  till  November  7 ;  and  no  heavy 
losses  were  sustained  till  severer  weather  set  in  in  December. — 
J.  H.  R. 


124  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

flames,  which  arose  in  every  direction  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  reach.     He  said  the  burning  of 
these    villages,    as    well    as    of    Moscow,    was 
attributed    to    his    troops,    but   that   it   was   in- 
variably done  by  the  natives.1     After  dinner  he 
did   not   drink   wine,    but   he   took    a    glass   of 
noyau   after   his   coffee,  previous  to  rising  from 
table.     After  dinner   he  walked  the   deck,  con- 
versing   principally   with    the    admiral,    and    to 
whom   he   said,    during   this    conversation,    that 
previous  to  his  going  to  Elba  he  had  made  pre- 
parations for  having  a  navy  of  a  hundred  sail  of 
the  line ; 2  that  he  had  established  a  conscription 
for   the   navy  ;   and   that   the  Toulon  fleet  was 
entirely  manned  and  brought  forward  by  people 
of  this  description  ;  that   he   had  ordered  them 
positively  to  get  under  way  and  manoeuvre  every 
day  the  weather  would  permit,  and  to  occasionally 
exchange  long  shots  with   our  ships ;   that  this 
had  been  remonstrated  against  by  those  about 
him,  and  it  had  cost  him  much  money  to  repair 
the  accidents  which  occurred  from  the  want  of 
maritime  knowledge,  such  as  ships  getting  foul 

1  It  is  now  known  that  the  fires  at  Moscow  and  elsewhere 
were  due  largely  to   the  plundering   of  French   and  Polish 
troops.— J.  H.  R. 

2  See  his  assertion  on  p.  88. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      125 

of  each  other,  splitting  their  sails,  springing 
their  masts,  &c.  ;  but  he  found  this  tended 
to  improve  the  crews,  and  he  determined  to 
persevere  in  his  plan.  After  walking  for  some 
time,  he  proposed  a  round  game  of  cards,  in 
compliance  with  which  the  admiral,  Sir  George 
Bingham,  Captain  Ross,  and  myself  assembled 
with  General  Bonaparte  and  his  followers  in 
the  after  cabin,  where  we  played  at  vingt-un 
[sic]  (which  was  the  game  chosen  by  the  ex- 
emperor)  till  nearly  eleven  o'clock,  when  we  all 
retired  to  our  beds. 

Could  any  person  ignorant  of  the  events  which 
had  so  lately  occurred  have  witnessed  the  group 
at  cards,  he  never  could  possibly  have  imagined 
that  it  consisted  of  a  fallen  emperor,  a  fallen 
marshal,  two  fallen  generals,  an  ex-count,  two 
ex-countesses,  an  English  admiral  (guardian  of 
the  fallen),  and  an  English  colonel,  captain,  and 
secretary  in  office ;  nor  could  he  have  dis- 
tinguished any  difference  in  the  countenances 
of  those  fallen  and  those  in  the  plenitude  of 
their  power. 

As  the  ship  had  not  been  fitted  for  so  many 
passengers,  there  was  difficulty  in  providing  them 
with  adequate  room  and  accommodation,  as  each 
asked  and  expected  a  separate  apartment.  The 


126  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

general  was  provided  as  before  mentioned, 
Captain  Ross  gave  up  his  cabin  to  Marshal  and 
Madame  Bertrand,  I  gave  up  mine  to  General 
and  Madame  Montholon,  and  it  was  arranged 
that  General  Gourgaud  and  Count  Las  Cases 
were  to  sleep  on  sofa-beds  in  the  after  cabin,  until 
cabins  could  be  built  for  them  between  decks. 

August  8. — The  weather  unpleasant ;  wind 
from  north-east,  with  much  swell.  We  lay  to 
most  of  this  day  off  Plymouth,  waiting  to  be 
joined  by  the  squadron  destined  to  accompany 
us.  The  Havannah,  Zenobia,  and  Peruvian 
joined  during  the  day.  The  last  was  despatched 
to  Guernsey  to  procure  French  wines,  and  rejoin 
us  at  Madeira.  Owing  to  the  swell  and  conse- 
quent motion,  but  few  of  our  guests  were  able  to 
come  to  table,  and  the  general  did  not  make  his 
appearance  during  the  day. 

August  9. — The  Zephyr,  Icarus,  Redpole,  and 
Ferret  joined  from  Plymouth,  which  completed 
our  destined  squadron  (except  the  Weymouth, 
store-ship).  We  proceeded  down  Channel  with 
a  fresh  wind  from  the  north-west  and  much  swell. 
The  ex-emperor  made  his  first  appearance  this 
day  about  two  o'clock,  and  after  walking  a  short 
time  on  deck  he  went  into  the  after  cabin,  where 
he  played  at  chess  until  dinner  was  announced. 


THE 


Tojacepage  126. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      127 

During  the  first  part  of  the  dinner  he  was  very 
reserved  ;  but  after  taking  a  few  glasses  of  wine, 
he  threw  off  that  reserve  and  conversed  freely, 
but  chiefly  with  the  admiral,  of  whom  he  made 
many  and  particular  inquiries  relative  to  India 
and  the  state  of  our  forces  there.  He  said  that 
formerly  he  had  corresponded  with  Tippoo  Saib, 
and  on  going  to  Egypt  he  entertained  hopes  of 
reaching  India;1  but  the  removal  of  the  vizir,  and 
the  change  of  politics  with  the  Ottoman  Porte, 
with  other  circumstances,  had  frustrated  his  hopes 
and  prevented  him  pursuing  that  career  which  he 
had  at  first  contemplated.  He  sat  but  a  short 
time  at  dinner,  and  then  went  on  deck,  where  he 
walked,  keeping  his  hat  off  and  looking  round 
steadfastly  and  rather  sternly  to  see  if  the  British 
officers  did  the  same.  However,  as  the  admiral, 
after  saluting  the  deck,  put  his  hat  on,  the  officers 
did  the  same  (the  admiral  having  previously 
desired  that  the  officers  should  not  be  uncovered), 
and  thus  not  a  British  head  was  uncovered,  at 
which  he  was  evidently  piqued,  and  soon  retired 
to  the  after  cabin.  His  followers  were  constantly 
uncovered  in  his  presence,  and  watched  his  every 

1  It  is  certain  that  he  kept  his  gaze  mainly  on  French 
politics,  and  would  not  have  gone  so  far  as  India.  See  his 
words  on  p.  215. — J.  H.  R. 


128  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

motion  with  obsequious  attention.  About  8  p.m., 
General  Gourgaud  begged  of  us  to  join  the  vingt- 
un  party,  which  the  admiral,  Sir  George  Bingham, 
Captain  Ross,  and  myself  did,  and  played  until 
about  half-past  nine,  when  Bonaparte  retired  to 
bed.  During  this  evening  he  talked  but  little 
and  appeared  sulky ;  however,  this  produced  no 
alteration  in  our  manners  toward  him,  neither 
was  he  paid  more  respect  than  any  other 
officer  present.  This  afternoon  the  Zenobia  was 
despatched  to  put  letters  into  the  post-office  at 
Falmouth,  off  which  place  we  were. 

August  10. — The  weather  moderate  ;  the  wind 
to  the  westward,  with  considerable  swell  from 
that  quarter.  As  soon  as  the  Zenobia  rejoined, 
we  made  sail  on  the  starboard  tack.  Our  pas- 
sengers, with  the  exception  of  the  general,  were 
all  assembled  at  the  second  breakfast  about  half- 
past  ten.  This  meal  consisted  of  soup,  roasted 
meat,  a  haricot,  marmalade,  with  porter  and 
claret  as  a  beverage  (which,  I  understand,  is  the 
constant  breakfast  of  the  general),  the  ladies,  and 
even  the  children,  drinking  both  porter  and  wine 
with  jwaj£cj[  Between  two  and  three  Bonaparte 
his  appearance  on  deck,  asking  various 
questions  as  to  the  names  of  the  vessels  with  us, 
the  probable  time  of  our  voyage  to  Madeira,  &c. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      129 

His  fellow-prisoners  are  ever  uncovered  in  his 
presence,  and  in  speaking  to  him  invariably 
address  him  either  "  Sire  "  or  "  Votre  MajesteY' 
but  the  admiral  as  well  as  the  officers  at  all  times 
address  him  as  general.  However,  the  difficulty 
of  repressing  the  inclination  to  pay  him  marked 
attention  is  evident,  and  the  curiosity  of  both 
officers  and  men  in  watching  his  actions  is  very 
easily  perceived.  About  four  o'clock  he  retired 
to  the  after  cabin,  where  he  played  at  chess 
with  General  Montholon  until  dinner-time.  He 
appeared  to  play  but  badly,  and  certainly  very 
much  inferior  to  his  antagonist,  who  neverthe- 
less was  determined  not  to  win  the  game  from 
his  ex-majesty.1  At  dinner  he  ate  heartily  of 
every  dish,  his  fork  remaining  useless,  whilst  his 
fingers  were  busily  employed.  During  dinner,  in 
conversation  with  the  admiral  relative  to  our 
contests  with  America,  he  said  Mr.  Madison  was 
too  late  in  declaring  war ;  that  he  had  never 
made  any  requisition  to  France  for  assistance  ; 
but  that  he  (Bonaparte)  would  very  readily  have 
lent  any  number  of  ships  of  the  line  Mr. 
Madison  might  have  wished  for,  if  American 
seamen  could  have  been  sent  to  man  them  and 

1  Impatience  of  rules   made  Napoleon  play  poorly  at   all 
games.     See  p.  206. — J.  H.  R. 

9 


130  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

carry  them  to  America,  but  that,  the  affairs  of 
France  beginning  to  go  wrong  about  that  period, 
it  was  out  of  his  power  to  afford  any  material 
assistance  to  the  American  Government.1  During 
the  dinner  he  drank  very  heartily  of  claret  out  of 
a  tumbler,  but  nothing  after  dinner  except  a  glass 
of  noyau.  When  coffee  was  served,  he  swallowed 
his  hastily,  and  got  up  from  table  before  many  of 
us  were  even  served,  and  went  on  deck,  followed 
by  Mar^chal  Bertrand  and  Comte  Las  Cases. 
This  induced  the  admiral  to  desire  the  remainder 
of  the  party  not  to  quit  the  table,  and  directed 
the  steward  in  future  to  serve  coffee  to  the 
general,  and  such  of  his  followers  as  chose  to  take 
it,  immediately  after  the  cloth  was  removed,  whilst 
we  would  continue  at  table  and  drink  our  wine. 

Bonaparte  walked  the  deck,  asking  various 
trifling  questions,  until  nearly  dark,  when  our 
vingt-un  party  was  again  formed.  The  general 
was  again  unlucky,  losing  ten  or  twelve  napoleons, 
but  with  perfect  good  humour.  About  half-past 
nine  he  retired  to  his  sleeping-cabin.  General 
Gourgaud  (who  was  one  of  the  general's  aides-de- 
camp at  the  battle  of  Waterloo),  in  conversation 
with  the  admiral,  said  that  during  that  battle, 
when  the  Prussians  appeared,  General  Bonaparte 
1  That  is,  against  Great  Britain  in  1812. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      131 

believed  them  to  have  been  General  Grouchy 's 
division,  he  having  left  between  30,000  and 
40,000  men  with  that  general  under  orders  to 
advance  (in  the  direction  from  which  the  Prussians 
came)  if  from  the  firing  heard  General  Grouchy 
should  have  reason  to  suppose  the  day  was 
obstinately  contested  by  the  English ;  and  this  he 
said  induced  Bonaparte  to  persist  in  his  efforts  so 
long,  and  occasioned  (when  it  was  discovered  that 
there  was  nothing  but  Prussians  on  the  French 
flank)  so  general  and  complete  a  rout.1  He  said 
Bonaparte  was  forced  off  the  ground  by  Soult, 
and  he  proceeded  as  quickly  as  possible  after- 
ward to  Paris  ;  but  so  great  were  the  panic  and 
disorder  among  the  French  soldiers  that  many  of 
them,  without  arms  or  accoutrements,  actually 
arrived  in  Paris,  some  behind  carriages,  and 
others  in  carts,  &c.,  on  the  same  day  with  the 
general  and  his  attendants,  not  having  halted 
once  from  the  moment  of  their  quitting  the  field, 
and  reporting  everywhere  as  they  passed  that 
all  was  lost.  Our  latitude  to-day  at  noon  was 
49°  41'  N. 

1  Gourgaud  was  wrong.  Napoleon  knew  by  2  p.m.  that 
the  corps  approaching  from  the  east  was  Prussian,  but  he 
counted  on  Grouchy  marching  after  them  and  taking  them 
between  two  fires.  See  p.  147. — J.  H.  R. 


132  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

August  ii. — The  weather  bad  and  squally, 
with  an  unpleasant  swell  and  wind  from  the  north- 
west. Our  guests  were  all  sea-sick,  and  General 
Gourgaud  was  the  only  one  able  to  sit  at  table. 
Bonaparte  did  not  quit  his  cabin  the  whole  day. 
Marshal  Bertrand,  in  a  conversation  relative  to 
General  Bonaparte's  return,  stated  it  was  ac- 
tuated by  what  the  papers  mentioned  of  the  dis- 
tracted state  of  France,  and  that  he  was  received 
everywhere  as  a  father  returning  to  his  children. 
Our  latitude  to-day  was  48°  48'  N.,  longitude 
5°  58'  W. 

August  12. — The  weather  moderate  ;  wind  to 
the  westward,  with  much  swell,  which  caused  so 
unpleasant  a  motion  as  to  prevent  our  female 
guests  from  assembling  at  the  breakfast-table. 
About  three  o'clock  Bonaparte  made  his  appear- 
ance upon  deck ;  but  owing  to  the  motion,  he 
found  it  difficult  to  walk.  However,  with  the  help 
of  Sir  George  Bingham's  arm,  he  walked  for 
about  half  an  hour,  asking  commonplace  ques- 
tions, and  pitying  those  on  board  the  brigs  in 
company,  which  seemed  to  roll  and  pitch  very 
much.  General  Montholon,  Comte  Las  Cases, 
and  the  two  ladies  complained  much  of  sea-sick- 
ness ;  nevertheless,  we  all  assembled  at  five 
o'clock  at  dinner,  except  General  Montholon. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      133 

Bonaparte  was  more  silent  than  usual,  and  did 
not  eat  so  heartily,  apparently  affected  by  the 
motion.  After  dinner  he  walked  a  considerable 
time  with  the  admiral,  in  earnest  conversation. 
About  eight  we  adjourned  to  the  after  cabin,  and 
played  the  usual  game  of  vingt-un  until  near  ten. 
The  admiral  told  me  that  in  the  conversation 
with  the  general  this  evening,  in  speaking  of 
Ferdinand  of  Spain,  he  (the  general)  considered 
him  both  a  fool  and  a  coward,  that  he  was 
perfectly  under  the  dominion  of  priesthood,  and 
was  merely  a  passive  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
the  monks.  He  added  that  he  looked  on  King 
Charles  of  Spain  as  an  honest,  good  man,  but 
that  he  had  lost  everything  by  his  attachment  to 
a  bad  wife.  Among  other  things  he  mentioned 
that  Baron  de  Kolly,  who  was  sent  by  the  British 
Government  to  bring  off  Ferdinand,  was  first 
discovered  by  his  endeavouring  to  gain  some 
person  to  his  interest  in  Paris,  and  also  from 
suspicion  excited  by  the  command  of  money 
which  he  appeared  to  possess  ;  that  upon  his 
being  arrested  all  his  papers  were  discovered,  and 
then  it  was  determined  to  send  off  a  police  officer 
from  Paris  to  personate  Kolly  at  Valen^ay,  to 
deliver  the  Prince  Regent's  letter,  and  to  assure 
Ferdinand  that  everything  was  prepared  for  his 


134  NAPOLEOWS  LAST  VOYAGES 

escape,  purposely  to  prove  how  he  would  act 
under  such  circumstances  ;  but  in  spite  of  every- 
thing this  sham  Kolly  could  urge  (and  Bonaparte 
added  that  he  was  a  clever  fellow),  Ferdinand's 
courage  was  not  equal  to  the  undertaking,  and  he 
obstinately  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
the  supposed  agent  of  Great  Britain.1  The 
general  said  that  until  Kolly  was  discovered  at 
Paris,  the  French  Government  had  no  idea  of  our 
attempting  to  carry  off  Ferdinand  ;  but,  however, 
he  was  quite  convinced,  had  Kolly  not  been  dis- 
covered, the  pusillanimity  of  Ferdinand  would 
have  prevented  all  possibility  of  our  success. 
Our  latitude  this  day  at  noon  was  46°  30'  N.,  and 
longitude  8°  2'  W. 

August  13. — The  weather  very  fine,  with 
calms.  Napoleon  has  hitherto  breakfasted  in 
his  cabin.  Our  other  guests  were  all  assembled 
at  the  second  breakfast,  and  it  was  evident  from 
their  appetites  that  they  had  forgot  their  sea-sick- 
ness. During  the  forenoon  Madame  Bertrand 
expressed  great  regret  at  having  undertaken  the 
voyage  ;  she  also  expressed  hopes  that  Marechal 

1  Baron  de  Kolly's  plan  failed  owing  to  the  treason  of  a 
subordinate.  The  scheme  of  the  sham  Kolly  was  seen 
through  by  Ferdinand  himself.  See  Alison,  "History  of 
Europe,"  ch.  Ixv.—  J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      135 

Bertrand  and  herself  would  be  allowed  to  return 
to  England  in  the  course  of  twelve  months.1 
Between  two  and  three  the  general  came  on  deck, 
and  walked  until  nearly  dinner-time.  He  made 
many  inquiries  relative  to  a  French  merchant 
brig  spoken  by  one  of  the  squadron,  which  was 
fourteen  days  from  Havre.  He  seemed  anxious 
to  know  how  long  we  should  be  in  reaching 
Madeira,  and  whether  we  were  likely  to  remain 
there.  At  dinner  the  Rev.  George  Rennell, 
chaplain  of  the  ship,  who  had  been  invited  to 
dine  with  us,  happening  to  sit  opposite  the  general, 
the  latter  observed  him  with  peculiar  attention, 
and  during  the  whole  of  the  dinner-time  he  was 
completely  occupied  in  asking  questions  relative 
to  the  Protestant  religion — asking  what  were  the 
forms  of  our  church  service  ;  whether  we  used 
music ;  whether  we  used  extreme  unction  ; 
whether  we  prayed  for  the  dead ;  how  many 
sacraments  we  had,  and  how  often  the  sacrament 
was  performed  ;  whether  our  religion  was  similar 
to  either  the  Calvinist  or  Lutheran ;  whether 
length  of  time  was  necessary  to  study,  and  how 
long  so  before  a  clergyman  could  be  ordained ; 

1  She  induced  General  Bertrand,  when  signing  for  permis- 
sion to  go  to  St.  Helena,  to  stipulate  that  it  should  be  for  only 
twelve  months. — J.  H.  R. 


136  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

how  many  different  sects  of  dissenters  we  had  in 
England ;  whether  we  believed  in  transubstan- 
tiation — in  fact,  he  asked  almost  every  possible 
question.  He  also  asked  Mr.  Rennell  whether 
he  had  ever  seen  the  Roman  Catholic  worship 
performed  ;  and  being  answered  in  the  affirmative 
(in  Spain),  he  said,  "  Ah,  there  you  would  see 
it  with  every  pompous  effect."  After  dinner  he 
walked  until  nearly  dark,  when  he  retired  to  the 
after  cabin.  I  went  in  shortly  after,  and,  on 
taking  up  one  of  his  books,  of  which  he  has  a 
very  good  collection,  he  asked  me  if  I  had  ever 
read  Ossian.1  I  replied  I  had  in  English,  when 
he  said,  "  I  do  not  know  what  it  is  in  English, 
but  it  is  very  fine  in  French,"  and  immediately 
offered  me  the  book  he  had  in  his  hand,  and 
which  was  Ossian.  After  conversing  a  few 
minutes,  he  asked,  "  What  is  the  hour  ? "  and 
being  told  it  was  eight,  he  said,  "It  is  time 
to  play  at  vingt-un."  Madame  Bertrand,  seeing 
that  I  appeared  somewhat  surprised,  it  being 
Sunday  evening,  said,  "  Do  you  never  play  cards 
on  Sunday  ? "  I  replied  it  was  not  customary. 
Bonaparte  said,  "  Why,  the  upper  circles  in 
London  play  cards  on  Sunday,"  to  which  I 

1  Macpherson     (the    supposed     Ossian)    was    Napoleon's 
favourite  poet. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      137 

assented.  He  then  said,  "  The  admiral,  I 
suppose,  will  not  dislike  it.  Send  for  him  and 
the  colonel "  (meaning  Sir  George  Bingham). 
Cards  were  produced,  and  we  played  for  about 
an  hour  (but  neither  the  admiral  nor  Sir  George 
Bingham  joined  the  party),  when  Bonaparte  went 
to  bed.  Our  latitude  at  noon  was  45°  42'  N., 
longitude  8°  10'  W. 

August  14. — Light  winds,  with  a  continuation 
of  fine  weather.  Bonaparte,  as  usual,  breakfasted 
in  his  cabin.  He  walked  the  deck  both  before 
and  after  dinner,  and  spent  the  evening  playing 
at  vingt-un ;  but  nothing  occurred  in  his  con- 
versation worthy  of  notice.  Both  he  and  the 
admiral  appeared  distant  to  each  other.  Madame 
Bertrand  during  the  day  made  many  anxious 
inquiries  as  to  whether  the  English  ministry 
would  allow  her  and  the  mare'chal  to  return  to 
England.  To-day,  in  a  conversation  with  Mr. 
Barry  O'Meara,  late  surgeon  of  the  Bellerophon, 
who  was  permitted  by  Lord  Keith,  at  the  request 
of  General  Bonaparte,  to  accompany  him  to  St. 
Helena  (and  who  is  now  considered  one  of  the 
general's  suite),  he  told  me  that  on  July  15  the 
following  persons  quitted  France  with  Bonaparte.1 

1  GENERAUX. — Le  Lieutenant  General  Comte  Bertrand, 
grand  marechal;  le  Lieutenant-General  Due  de  Rovigo;  le 


138  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

To-day  at  noon  our  latitude  was  45°  13'  N., 
and  longitude  90°  5'  W.  We  had  still  light  airs, 
with  the  wind  to  the  westward,  and  with  much 
less  swell  than  usual. 

August  15. — This  being  Bonaparte's  birthday, 
all  his  followers  appeared  dressed  in  their  best. 
He  walked  as  usual  before  dinner,  and  appeared 
particularly  cheerful.  He  asked  numerous 
questions  relative  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ; 

Lieutenant-General  Baron  Lallemand  (refused  permission  to 
go),  A.D.C.  a  sa  Majeste ;  le  Lieutenant-General  Baron 
Gourgaud,  A.D.C.  a  sa  Majeste ;  Le  Comte  Las  Cases, 
conseiller  d'etat. 

DAMES. — Madame  la  Comtesse  Bertrand ;  Madame  la 
Comtesse  Montholon. 

OFFICIERS. — Lieutenant-Colonel  De  Planat ;  M.  Maingaut, 
chirurgien  de  sa  Majeste.  Mr.  Barry  O'Meara,  surgeon  of  the 
Bellerophon,  accompanies  the  general  as  his  surgeon  in  lieu  of 
M.  Maingaut,  who  was  re-landed  in  France. 

ENFANTS. — Three  children  of  Madame  la  Comtesse  Ber- 
trand ;  one  child  of  Madame  la  Comtesse  Montholon. 

OFFICIER. — M.  Las  Cases,  page. 

SERVICE  DE  LA  CHAMBRE. — M.  Marchand,  ist  valet  de 
chambre;  M.  Gilli,  valet  de  chambre;  M.  St.  Denis,  valet 
de  chambre;  M.  Navarra,  valet  de  chambre;  M.  Denis, 
gargon  de  garde-robe. 

LIVREE. — M.  Archambaud,  ist  valet  de  pied  ;  M.  Gaudron, 
valet  de  pied ;  M.  Gentilini,  valet  de  pied. 

SERVICE  DE  LA  BOUCHE. — M.  Fontain,  ist  maitre  d'hotel ; 
M.  Freron,  ist  chef  d'office ;  M.  La  Fosse,  ist  cuisinier ; 
M.  Le  Page,  cuisinier ;  two  femmes  de  chambre  de  Madame 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      139 

as  to  the  colour  of  the  natives  ;  their  disposition  ; 
what  inland  traffic  was  carried  on  ;  how  far  the 
interior  had  been  explored.  During  the  dinner 
he  reverted  to  his  northern  campaign,  saying 
had  he  succeeded  in  that,  he  seriously  intended 
to  have  invaded  Great  Britain.  At  dinner  we 
all  drank  his  health  in  compliment  to  his  birth- 
la  Comtesse  Bertrand ;  one  femme  de  chambre  de  Madame  la 
Comtesse  de  Montholon. 

SUITE  DE  PERSONNES  QUI  ACCOMPAGNENT  SA  MAJESTE". — 
One  valet  de  chambre  du  Due  de  Rovigo;  one  valet  de 
chambre  du  Comte  Bertrand  ;  one  valet  de  chambre  du  Comte 
Montholon ;  one  valet  de  pied  du  Comte  Bertrand.  The  fore- 
going went  on  board  the  Bellerophon. 

OFFICIERS. — Le  Lieutenant-Colonel  Resigny;  Capitaine 
Autrie ;  Capitaine  Piontkowski ;  Sous-Lieutenant  St.  Catherine ; 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Schultz;  Capitaine  Mercher;  Lieutenant 
Riviere. 

SUITE  DE  SA  MAJESTE.  —  Cipriani,  maitre  d'hotel ; 
Rosseau,  lampiste ;  Archambaud,  valet  de  pied;  Liviany, 
garde  d'office ;  Fumeau,  valet  de  pied.  The  above  on  board 
the  Myrmidon, 

N.B. — The  names  were  copied  from  the  original  French 
list  on  board  the  Bellerophon.  General  Gourgaud,  one  of  the 
first  mentioned,  went  to  England  with  a  letter  to  the  Prince 
Regent ;  but,  not  being  permitted  to  land,  he  returned  on 
board  the  Bellerophon  when  that  ship  arrived  in  Torbay. 

[Savary,  Due  de  Rovigo,  General  Lallemand,  Colonel  Planat, 
M.  Maingaut,  and  some  of  the  servants,  did  not  proceed  to 
St.  Helena.  Twelve  valets  and  servants  went  thither  on 
board  the  Northumberland.  See  Captain  Maitland's  "  Narra- 
tive "  adfin.—].  H.  R.] 


140  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

day,  with  which  civility  he  seemed  much  pleased. 
He  walked  a  considerable  time  with  the  admiral 
after  dinner,  talking  of  the  invasion  of  England. 
He  said  that  when  the  demonstration  was  made 
at  Boulogne,  he  had  most  perfectly  and  decidedly 
made  up  his  mind  to  it  (the  invasion) ;  that  his 
putting  guns  into  the  praams  and  the  rest  of 
his  armed  flotilla  was  only  to  deceive  and 
endeavour  to  make  us  believe  he  intended  to 
make  a  descent  upon  England  with  their 
assistance  only,  whereas  he  had  never  intended 
to  make  any  other  use  of  them  than  as  transports, 
and  entirely  depended  on  his  fleets  being  enabled 
to  deceive  ours  by  the  route  and  manoeuvres  he 
intended  them  to  make ;  and  that  they  would 
thereby  be  enabled  to  get  off  Boulogne,  so  as 
to  have  a  decided  superiority  in  the  Channel 
long  enough  to  insure  his  making  good  a  landing, 
for  which  he  said  everything  was  so  arranged 
and  prepared  that  he  would  have  required  only 
twenty-four  hours  after  arriving  at  the  spot  fixed 
on.1  He  said  he  had  200,000  men  for  this 
service,  out  of  which  6,000  were  cavalry,  which 
would  have  been  landed  with  horses  and  every 
appointment  complete  and  fit  for  acting  the 
moment  they  were  put  on  shore  ;  and  that  the 
1  See  note  on  p.  89. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      141 

praams  were  particularly  intended  for  carrying 
over  these  horses.  He  said  the  exact  point  of 
debarkation  had  not  been  fixed  on,  as  he  con- 
sidered it  not  material,  and  only  therefore  to 
be  determined  by  the  winds  and  circumstances 
of  the  moment ;  but  that  he  intended  to  have 
got  as  near  to  Chatham  as  he  conveniently  could, 
to  have  secured  our  resources  there  at  once,  and 
to  have  pushed  on  to  London  by  that  road.  He 
told  Sir  George  Cockburn  he  had  ordered  his 
Mediterranean  admiral  to  proceed  with  his  fleet 
to  Martinique  to  distract  our  attention,  and  draw 
our  fleet  after  him,  and  then  to  exert  the  utmost 
efforts  to  get  quickly  back  to  Europe ;  and 
looking  into  Brest  (where  he  had  ordered  another 
fleet  under  Gantheaume  to  be  ready  to  join  him), 
the  whole  was  to  push  up  Channel  to  Boulogne, 
where  he  (Bonaparte)  was  to  be  ready  to  join 
them,  and  to  move  with  them  over  to  our  coast 
at  an  hour's  notice.  And  in  point  of  fact,  he 
said,  he  was  so  ready,  his  things  embarked,  and 
himself  anxiously  looking  for  the  arrival  of  his 
fleets,  when  he  heard  of  their  having  returned 
indeed  to  Europe  ;  but  instead  of  their  coming 
into  the  Channel,  in  conformity  with  the  instruc- 
tions he  had  given,  they  had  got  to  Cadiz,  where 
they  were  blocked  up  by  the  English  fleet,  with 


142  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

which  they  had  had  a  partial  engagement  off 
Ferrol,  and  thus,  he  said,  by  the  disobedience 
and  want  of  management  of  his  admirals,  he  saw 
in  a  moment  that  all  his  hopes  with  regard  to 
invading  England  were  frustrated,  with  this 
additional  disadvantage  (which  he  had  fully 
foreseen  when  he  first  turned  in  his  mind  the 
idea  of  such  an  attempt),  that  the  preparations 
at  Boulogne  had  given  a  stronger  military  bias 
to  every  individual  in  England,  and  enabled 
ministers  to  make  greater  efforts  than  they  other- 
wise perhaps  would  have  been  permitted  to  do. 
He  added  that  he  believed,  however,  the  English 
administration  had  entertained  great  alarms  for 
the  issue,  if  he  had  got  over,  as  his  secret  agents 
at  the  Russian  court  reported  to  him  that  Great 
Britain  had  most  pressingly  urged  that  court  with 
Austria  to  declare  war  against  France  for  the 
purpose  of  averting  from  England  the  danger  of 
this  threatened  invasion,  which  he  said,  however, 
he  had  given  up  from  the  moment  he  found  his 
fleets  had  failed.1  Having  then  turned  his  whole 

1  Far  from  this  being  so,  the  British  Government  insisted 
on  terms  (respecting  Malta)  which  were  repugnant  to  the 
Czar  Alexander,  with  the  result  that  the  Anglo-Russian 
alliance  was  formed  very  slowly  and  with  great  difficulty. — 
J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      143 

attention  to  his  new  enemies  on  the  Continent, 
his  force  collected  at  Boulogne  enabled  him  to 
make  the  sudden  movement  which  proved  fatal 
to  General  Mack,  and  gave  him  (Bonaparte)  all 
the  advantages  which  followed.  In  short,  the 
account  he  gave  very  much  tallied  with  Gold- 
smith's relation  of  the  same  circumstances  as 
given  in  his  <(  History  of  the  Cabinet  of  St. 
Cloud."  ' 

During  the  conversation  Bonaparte  told  the 
admiral  in  a  manner  not  at  all  suspicious  that 
Admiral  Villeneuve  decidedly  put  himself  to 
death,  though  the  general  in  talking  of  him 
seemed  very  strongly  impressed  with  an  idea  of 
that  admiral's  unpardonable  neglect,  disobedience, 
and  negligence  throughout.2  He  also  said  that  he 
had  ordered  Admiral  Dumanoir  to  be  tried  by  a 
court  martial  for  his  conduct  at  the  battle  of 
Trafalgar,  and  that  he  had  exerted  all  his  influence 
to  have  him  shot  or  broke,  but  that  he  had  been 
acquitted  in  spite  of  him  ;  and  he  added  that 
when  the  sentence  of  acquittal  was  given,  Admiral 
Cosmao  (who  was  one  of  the  members  of  the 
court,  and  whom  he  said  he  decidedly  considered 

1  For  this  Goldsmith,  see  p.  192. 

2  Villeneuve  committed  suicide  at  Rennes   on   April   22, 
1806.— J.  H.  R. 


144  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

to  be  the  best  sea  officer  now  in  France,  and 
whom  he  had  therefore  lately  created  a  peer) 
broke  his  own  sword  at  the  time  that  of  Dumanoir 
was  returned  to  him,  which  act  Bonaparte  seemed 
most  highly  pleased  with.1  In  the  course  of  the 
evening  he  told  Sir  George  that  he  had  prepared 
a  strong  expedition  at  Antwerp,  destined  to  act 
against  Ireland,  which  he  had  only  been  prevented 
from  sending  forward  by  his  own  affairs  taking  an 
unfavourable  turn  on  the  Continent.  He  was  in 
very  high  spirits  this  evening,  and  was  very 
fortunate  at  vingt-un,  which  seemed  to  please 
him  the  more  as  it  was  his  birthday.  Our  latitude 
and  longitude  this  day  at  noon  were  43°  51'  N. 
and  10°  2 1'  W. 

August  1 6. — Our  fine  weather  continued,  with 
light  airs.  Bonaparte  walked  before  and  after 
dinner,  and  was  particularly  cheerful  in  con- 
versation, asking  a  variety  of  questions  relative 
to  St.  Helena  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  He 
inquired  most  particularly  as  to  the  number  of 
respectable  families  at  St.  Helena,  the  number 
of  ladies  there,  and  how  many  officers'  wives 
were  in  the  squadron.  After  dinner  to-day  he 
had  a  long  conversation  with  the  admiral,  whom 

1  Dumanoir  commanded  the  French  van  at  Trafalgar,  and 
did  not  "  wear  about "  with  sufficient  promptness. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      145 

he  assured,  on  his  word  of  honour,  that  on  return- 
ing from  Elba  he  had  not  held  communication  or 
correspondence  with,  nor  had  he  received  any 
invitation  from,  any  of  the  marshals  or  generals 
whatever,  and  that  it  was  entirely  owing  to  the 
representations  in  the  public  papers  of  the  state 
of  France  that  he  was  induced  to  return,  and  no 
longer  to  hesitate  in  taking  the  steps  he  did.1  He 
stated  that,  on  reaching  Grenoble,  the  garrison 
showed  an  inclination  to  resist  his  progress,  but 
that  on  his  putting  himself  in  front,  throwing  open 
his  great-coat  to  show  himself  more  conspicuously, 
and  calling  out,  "  Kill  your  Emperor  if  you  wish 
it !  "  the  whole  immediately  joined,  and  that  after- 
ward he  received  nothing  but  congratulations 
and  proofs  of  attachment  all  the  way  to  Paris. 
Mar6chal  Bertrand  related  to  me  the  foregoing 
circumstances  in  a  very  similar  manner,  adding, 
however,  that  at  first  Bonaparte  found  some 
difficulty  in  inducing  the  officers  to  espouse  his 
cause,  and  that  many  of  them,  on  being  sent  for 
by  Bonaparte,  stated  that  they  had  taken  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  Louis  XVIII.,  and  consequently 
that  as  their  troops  had  deserted  them  their  ap- 
pointments were  null  and  void,  and  that  they  had 

1  Another  reason  was  that  he  believed   the   allies   in   the 
Congress  of  Vienna  to  be  on  the  verge  of  a  rupture. — J.  H.  R. 

10 


146  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

acted  up  to  their  faith  as  far  as  regarded  Louis. 
Bonaparte  then  asked  them  if  they  would  accept 
commissions  from  him,  when  there  were  very  few 
but  what  replied  in  the  affirmative,  and  served 
under  his  banners.  Bertrand  also  said  that  as 
they  proceeded  towards  Paris  their  forces  in- 
creased most  rapidly  ;  that  he  felt  convinced  that 
Marshal  Ney  left  Paris  with  a  full  intention  of 
opposing  Bonaparte,  but,  finding  his  army  to  a 
man  quitting  him,  he  espoused  the  cause  of 
Bonaparte,  and  became  a  strenuous  supporter 
of  his.  Bonaparte,  amongst  other  things,  told  the 
admiral  that  on  his  return  to  Paris  from  Elba  he 
had  paid  too  much  attention  to,  and  had  submitted 
too  much  to  the  opinion  of,  the  Jacobin  party, 
which  he  was  now  persuaded  had  not  been  so 
requisite  as  he  then  conceived  it  to  be  ;  and  that 
had  he  depended  altogether  on  his  own  popularity, 
he  should  have  succeeded  better.1  He  said  the 
circumstances  of  the  times  compelled  him  to  form 
his  army  quickly,  and  how  he  could  ;  and  in 
consequence  of  not  having  time  to  examine  and 
weed  it,  many  officers  remained  in  it  who  had 
received  their  appointments  from  Louis  XVIII., 

1  There  were  very  few  Jacobins  in  France  in  1815. 
Napoleon  dubbed  the  Constitutional  Liberals  "  Jacobins,"  in 
order  to  discredit  them. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      147 

and  who  were  much  disaffected  to  him,  and 
anxious  to  betray  him.  He  said  many  of  his 
officers  deserted  previous  to  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo ; *  and  in  speaking  of  the  French  nation  he 
said  that  the  lower  orders  of  the  people  were  the 
most  sincere,  the  most  firm,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  best  dispositioned  in  the  world  ;  but  in  the 
proportion  as  you  rose  the  class  their  characters 
became  the  worse,  and  above  the  bourgeois  they 
were  too  fickle  and  too  volatile  to  be  at  all 
depended  on.  They  had  one  principle  for  to-day 
and  another  for  to-morrow,  according  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  moment ;  and  he  attributed 
his  Waterloo  disasters  solely  to  the  disaffected 
officers  of  his  army.  In  talking  of  the  battle  he 
assured  the  admiral  he  had  never  for  a  moment 
mistook  the  Prussians  for  Grouchy's  division,  but 
that  he  knew  early  in  the  day  that  the  Prussians 
were  closing  on  his  flank  ;  that  this,  however, 
gave  him  little  or  no  uneasiness,  as  he  depended 
on  General  Grouchy  also  closing  with  him  at  the 
same  time,  and  he  had  ordered  a  sufficient  force 
to  oppose  the  Prussians,  who  were  in  fact  already 
checked.  And  he  added  that  he  considered  the 

1  General  Bourmont,  with  the  officers  of  his  division  (in 
Gerard's  corps)  deserted  to  the  Prussians  early  on  June  15. — 
J.  H.  R. 


148  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

battle  throughout  the  day  to  be  very  much  in  his 
favour,  but  that  so  soon  as  it  was  dusk  the  dis- 
affected officers  promulgated  the  cry  of  "  Sauve 
quipeut!"  which  spread  such  confusion  and  alarm 
throughout  his  whole  line  that  it  became  impos- 
sible to  counteract  it,  or  to  rally  his  troops,  situated 
as  they  were.  But,  he  said,  had  it  been  daylight 
an  hour  longer,  he  was  positive  the  result  would 
have  been  very  different ;  he  further  said  that  had 
he  been  able,  when  the  alarm  and  confusion  first 
took  place,  to  have  placed  himself  in  a  conspicuous 
situation  in  front,  it  would  have  insured  the  rally- 
ing of  all  his  troops  around  him  ;  but  as  it  was, 
treachery  and  darkness  combined  rendered  his 
ruin  inevitable.1  He  said  that  on  the  morning 
of  June  1 8th  he  did  not  entertain  the  most  distant 
idea  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  would  have 
willingly  allowed  him  to  have  brought  the  English 
army  to  a  decisive  battle,  and  consequently  he 
had  been  the  more  anxious  to  push  on,  and  if 
possible  to  force  it,  considering  nothing  else  could 

1  This  is,  of  course,  absurd.  A  prolongation  of  daylight 
would  have  made  the  Prussian  pursuit  even  more  effective 
than  it  was.  This  whole  narration  shows  the  chief  cause  of 
Napoleon's  defeat  at  Waterloo,  namely,  that  he  was  a  victim 
to  his  preconceived  notions  of  the  state  of  affairs.  He  gave 
battle  without  taking  due  thought  of  Bliicher,  whom  he 
believed  hors  de  combat  for  some  days  after  Ligny. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      149 

offer  him  a  chance  of  surmounting  the  difficulties 
with  which  he  was  surrounded  ;  but,  he  added, 
could  he  have  beaten  the  English  army,  he  was 
positive  scarcely  one  would  have  escaped  being 
either  killed  or  taken,  in  which  case  the  Prussian 
army  (having  been  already  beaten  on  the  i6th) 
must  have  made  a  precipitate  retreat,  or  most 
probably  would  have  been  dispersed,  and  cer- 
tainly entirely  disorganised.  It  was  his  intention 
then  to  have  pushed  on  by  forced  marches  to 
have  met  the  Austrians  before  any  junction  could 
have  been  made  between  them  and  the  Russians, 
which  would  have  placed  the  game  in  his  own 
hands,  even  if  hostilities  had  been  obstinately 
persevered  in  ;  though  in  the  state  of  things  he 
had  built  on  the  idea  that  a  victory  over  the 
English  army  in  Belgium,  with  its  immediate 
results,  would  have  been  sufficient  to  have  pro- 
duced a  change  of  administration  in  England, 
and  have  afforded  him  a  chance  of  concluding  an 
armistice,  which  he  said  was  really  his  first  object, 
as  he  felt  that  France  was  not  equal  to  the  efforts 
she  was  then  making,  and  it  was  perfectly  impos- 
sible for  her  to  think  of  making  any  adequate 
resistance  against  the  numerous  forces  of  the 
allies,  if  once  united  and  acting  in  concert  against 
him.  He  said  that  things,  however,  having  taken 


150  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

the  turn  they  did  against  him,  he  was  compelled 
to  act  as  he  had  done,  and  he  felt  convinced  that 
Great  Britain  had  not  pursued  the  wisest  policy 
by  refusing  him  an  asylum,  as  he  was  ready  to 
have  pledged  his  honour,  and  would  have  done 
so,  not  to  have  quitted  the  kingdom,  nor  to  have 
interfered  in  any  manner  directly  or  indirectly 
with  the  affairs  of  France,  or  in  politics  of  any 
sort,  unless  hereafter  requested  so  to  do  by  our 
Government ;  that  the  influence  he  had  over  the 
minds  of  the  people  of  every  description  in  France 
would  have  enabled  him  to  have  kept  them  quiet 
under  whatever  terms  it  might  have  been  thought 
necessary  for  the  future  security  of  Europe  to 
impose  on  France  ;  but  that  if  terms  at  all  re- 
pugnant to  the  vanity  of  the  French  nation  were 
acquiesced  in  by  the  Bourbons,  it  would  render 
them  more  unpopular  than  they  even  are  at 
present,  and  that  the  people,  sooner  or  later 
(waiting  a  favourable  crisis),  would  rise  en  masse 
for  their  destruction.  He  said  the  disbanding  of 
the  French  army  was  of  little  or  no  consequence, 
as  the  nation  was  now  altogether  military,  and 
could  always  form  into  an  army  at  any  given 
signal.  The  admiral,  in  answer  to  the  observa- 
tions he  had  made,  said  that  after  the  events  of 
latter  years,  he  did  not  think  the  Government  of 


NAPOLEON,    ON    BOARD    THE    "  BELLEROPHON." 


To  face  page  150. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      151 

Great  Britain  could  be  supposed  to  have  sufficient 
reliance  in  him  (Bonaparte)  to  have  allowed  him 
to  take  up  his  residence  in  England,  due  reference 
being  had  to  the  present  state  of  affairs  in  France 
and  to  the  feelings  of  the  allies  on  the  Continent, 
however  conscious  he  himself  might  be  of  his  own 
integrity  and  of  the  sacredness  with  which  he 
would  have  observed  any  stipulations  to  which 
he  would  have  pledged  his  word  of  honour.  The 
admiral  observed  that  he  therefore  was  surprised 
at  his  not  retiring  in  preference  to  Austria,  where 
his  connection  with  the  emperor  would  have 
afforded  him  a  strong  claim  to  more  distinguished 
reception  and  consideration.  Bonaparte  replied 
that  had  he  gone  to  Austria  he  had  no  doubt  but 
what  he  would  have  been  received  with  every 
attention,  but  that  he  could  not  bring  himself  to 
submit  to  receive  a  favour  from  the  Emperor  of 
Austria  after  the  manner  in  which  he  had  now 
taken  part  against  him,  notwithstanding  his  former 
professions  of  affection,  and  his  close  connection 
with  him,  which  latter,  Bonaparte  added,  had  not 
by  any  means  been  sought  for  by  himself.  He 
then  gave  the  following  curious  relation  respecting 
his  marriage  with  Maria  Louise.  He  said  that, 
when  at  Erfurth,  the  Emperor  Alexander  took  an 
opportunity  one  day  of  pressing  upon  him  how 


152  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

important  his  having  a  legitimate  heir  must  prove 
to  the  future  repose  of  France  and  Europe,  and 
Alexander  therefore  advised  his  setting  aside 
Josephine,  to  which  if  he  would  consent  the 
emperor  offered  him  in  marriage  a  Russian 
princess  (he  believed  Princess  Anne  was  named).1 
But  Bonaparte  said  he  did  not  at  the  moment 
pay  much  attention  ;  for,  having  lived  so  long 
with  Josephine  in  such  harmony,  and  having  so 
much  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  her,  the  idea  of 
causing  her  pain  disinclined  him  from  entering 
further  on  the  subject ;  added  to  which,  he  said 
he  was  already  well  aware  of  the  falseness  of  the 
character  of  the  Emperor  Alexander.  He  there- 
fore merely  observed  in  reply  that  as  he  was 
living  on  the  best  possible  terms  with  Josephine, 
he  had  never  even  thought  of  an  arrangement  of 
the  nature  mentioned  by  his  imperial  majesty. 
However,  some  time  after,  when  at  Paris,  being 

1  This  is  false.  Napoleon  at  Erfurt,  in  September,  1808 
was  already  contemplating  a  divorce,  and  therefore  caused 
overtures  to  be  made  indirectly  to  the  Czar  Alexander  with 
a  view  to  a  marriage  alliance  with  a  Russian  grand  duchess. 
Alexander  waved  aside  the  proposal,  and  caused  his  sister 
Catherine  to  be  at  once  affianced  to  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Oldenburg.  The  Grand  Duchess  Anne  was  then  only 
fourteen  years  of  age.  See  Vandal,  "  Napoleon  et  Alexandre," 
vol.  i.  pp.  471-2. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      153 

strongly  urged  by  his  own  friends  on  the  same 
point,  and  Josephine  having  herself  assented,  he 
sent  to  Russia  to  acquaint  Alexander  of  his  wish 
and  readiness  to  espouse  the  Russian  princess 
who  had  been  proffered  him  when  at  Erfurth. 
This  intimation,  he  said,  the  Russian  Government 
received  with  every  outward  mark  of  satisfaction, 
professing  its  readiness  to  accede  to  the  match, 
but  at  the  same  time  starting  difficulties  upon 
various  points,  and  most  particularly  with  regard 
to  securing  the  princess  the  right  of  exercising 
her  own  religion,  to  which  end  it  was  demanded 
that  a  Greek  chapel  might  be  established  for  her 
in  the  Tuileries.  This,  Bonaparte  said,  he  did 
not  care  about  himself ;  bat  being  a  thing  so 
uncustomary,  added  to  other  points  requested  by 
Russia,  much  discussion  and  many  difficulties 
arose  with  regard  to  the  Russian  alliance,  when 
some  of  his  ministers,  with  Beauharnais,  his  son- 
in-law  [sic],  waited  on  him  and  pressed  the 
advantage  which  might  result  should  he  consent 
to  ask  in  marriage  an  Austrian  princess,  adding 
that  the  Austrian  ambassador  would  readily 
engage  for  his  court  coming  into  any  arrange- 
ment he  (Bonaparte)  might  wish  for  this  object. 
To  which  he  replied,  if  such  was  the  case,  and 
the  affair  could  be  concluded  at  once,  he  should 


154  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

not  on  his  part  make  objections  to  this  new  plan, 
and  would  give  up  the  idea  of  forming  a  Russian 
alliance.  This  being  the  case,  it  was  instantly 
agreed  upon  to  take  the  contract  of  marriage  of 
Louis  XIV.  for  a  guide  in  arranging  his  with  the 
Austrian  princess  ;  and  such  was  the  expedition 
used  that  the  necessary  documents  were  prepared, 
signed,  and  sent  off  for  the  approbation  of  the 
Emperor  of  Austria  before  twelve  o'clock  that 
night.  The  latter  acceded  without  hesitation  to 
everything,  and  by  his  manner  of  forwarding  it 
gave  all  reason  to  believe  he  was  not  only  satis- 
fied, but  most  highly  pleased  with  the  arrange- 
ment ;  and  thus  Bonaparte  said  he  became  the 
emperor's  son-in-law  without  any  other  solicitation 
or  intrigue  on  his  part,  and  without  having  even 
once  seen  Maria  Louise  until  she  arrived  in 
France  as  his  wife.  He  therefore  thought  the 
emperor's  conduct  toward  him  since  his  reverses 
began  was  not  in  unison  with  his  conduct  or 
profession  toward  him  in  prosperity,  or  such  as 
he  had  a  right  to  expect  from  the  father  of  his 
wife ;  and  consequently  he  said  he  would  rather 
have  gone  anywhere  in  his  distress,  or  have  done 
anything,  than  have  placed  himself  in  a  situation 
to  have  been  obliged  to  ask  protection  as  a  favour 
from  a  prince  who  he  thought  had  behaved  toward 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      155 

him  so  unjustly.1  He  finished  by  saying  he  had 
been  deceived  by  the  English,  but,  harshly  and 
unfairly  as  he  considered  himself  treated  by  them, 
yet  he  found  comfort  from  feeling  that  he  was 
under  the  protection  of  British  laws,  which  he 
could  not  have  felt  had  he  gone  elsewhere,  where 
his  fate  might  have  depended  on  the  whim  of  the 
individual.  He  scarcely  said  anything  as  to  his 
wish  to  have  escaped  to  America,  although  in 
different  conversations  with  his  followers  they 
have  implied  he  was  very  anxious  to  get  there 
and  to  live  as  a  private  individual  without 
meddling  with  politics.  He  played  his  game 
of  vingt-un  as  usual,  and  went  to  bed  about  ten 
o'clock.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  to-day  at 
noon  were  42°  59'  N.  and  10°  42'  W. 

August  17. — Light  winds  and  pleasant  weather. 
This  day  the  Peruvian  rejoined  us  from  Guernsey, 
where  she  had  been  sent  for  French  wines. 
Captain  White  having  brought  some  French  news- 
papers, they  were  read  with  avidity  by  our  guests. 
At  dinner  Bonaparte  remarked  that  \hz  presidents 
des  de'partements  et  des  arrondissements  appointed 
by  Louis  were  with  very  few  exceptions  the  same 

1  This  refers  to  the  Emperor  Francis.  At  Plymouth,  also, 
during  his  interview  with  Lord  Keith  as  to  his  destination, 
Napoleon  exclaimed,  "  Russie  !  Dieu  m'en  garde." — J.  H.  R. 


156  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

persons  that  he  (Bonaparte)  should  have  appointed 
had  he  continued  in  power.  In  the  evening,  when 
talking  of  himself,  he  told  the  admiral  that  he  had 
been  placed  in  chief  command  as  a  general  officer 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four ;  that  he  made  the 
conquest  of  Italy  when  he  was  twenty-five  ; l  that 
he  had  risen  from  nothing  to  be  sovereign  of  his 
country  (as  consul)  at  thirty,  and  that  if  chance 
had  caused  him  to  be  killed  the  day  after  he 
entered  Moscow,  that  his  would  have  been  a 
career  of  advancement  and  uninterrupted  success 
without  parallel ;  and  he  said  the  very  misfortunes 
which  afterwards  befell  the  French  army  would 
in  such  case  most  probably  have  tended  rather  to 
the  advantage  than  disadvantage  of  his  fame,  as, 
however  inevitable  they  were,  they  would  have 
been  attributed  to  his  loss,  rather  than  to  their 
true  cause. 

We  played  our  usual  game  of  vingt-un,  and 
Bonaparte  quitted  the  table  abruptly,  and  went 
to  bed  earlier  than  usual.  Our  latitude  and 
longitude  this  day  at  noon  were  41°  57'  N.  and 
n°  ii7  W. 

August  1 8. — Moderate  weather.  Bonaparte 
renewed  his  questions  to-day  relative  to  the  Cape, 

1  These  statements  give  his  age  as  two  years  less  than  he 
was  in  the  autumn  of  1795  and  of  1796. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      157 

and  asked  particularly  whether  any  caravans  went 
from  thence  to  Egypt,  and  whether  any  person 
had  ever  penetrated  across  the  country.  In  the 
evening  he  talked  much  with  the  admiral  about 
the  Queen  of  Naples,  saying  he  had  had  much 
correspondence  with  her,  as  well  while  she  was  in 
Sicily  as  in  Naples  ;  that  his  general  advice  to 
her  was  to  remain  quiet,  and  not  interfere  with 
the  arrangements  of  the  greater  powers  of  Europe.1 
By  letters  received  from  his  wife  he  learned  that 
after  the  Queen  of  Naples  had  returned  to  Vienna 
she  had  taken  great  notice  of,  and  had  been  very 
kind  to,  his  son  ;  and  that  in  a  conversation  she 
had  with  his  wife,  she  had  asked  her  why  she 
did  not  follow  him  (Bonaparte)  to  Elba.  Maria 
Louise  answered  that  she  wished  to  do  so,  but 
that  her  father  and  mother  would  not  allow  her. 
The  Queen  of  Naples  interrogated  her  as  to 
whether  she  really  liked  him,  when,  being  an- 
swered in  the  affirmative,  and  Maria  Louise 
speaking  further  in  his  favour,  the  queen  said  to 
her,  "  My  child,  when  one  has  the  happiness  to 

1  This  was  Maria  Carolina,  consort  of  the  Bourbon  king, 
Ferdinand  IV.  It  is  known  that  while  in  Sicily,  under  the 
protection  of  a  British  force,  she  intrigued  with  the  French. 
Ultimately,  Lord  William  Bentinck  had  her  sent  away  from 
the  island.  She  died  in  Austria  on  September  7,  1814. — 
J.  H.  R. 


158  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

be  married  to  such  a  man,  papas  and  mamas 
should  not  keep  one  away  from  him  whilst  there 
are  windows  and  sheets  by  which  an  escape  to 
him  might  be  effected." 

In  the  course  of  the  evening  he  told  the 
admiral  he  considered  the  Russians  and  Poles  to 
be  decidedly  a  braver  race  of  people  than  all  the 
rest  of  Europe,  except  the  French  and  English, 
and  in  particular  very  far  superior  to  the  Aus- 
trians.  He  said  the  Emperor  of  Austria  possessed 
neither  firmness  nor  stability  of  character  ;  that 
the  King  of  Prussia  was  un  pauvre  bete ;  that 
the  Emperor  Alexander  was  a  more  active  and 
clever  man  than  any  of  the  other  sovereigns  of 
Europe,  but  that  he  was  extremely  false.  He 
asked  the  admiral  if  he  was  aware  that,  when  in 
friendship  with  him  at  Erfurth,  he  had  signed 
with  him  a  joint  letter  to  the  King  of  England  to 
require  the  relinquishing  of  the  right  of  maritime 
visitation  of  neutrals.1  He  said  that  Russia  was 
much  to  be  feared  if  Poland  was  not  preserved  in 

1  This  was  on  October  12,  1808.  The  chief  demand  of 
the  Emperors  in  their  joint  note  was  to  obtain  from  George  III. 
a  recognition  of  the  existing  boundaries  (implicitly)  and  the 
abandonment  of  the  Spanish  patriots.  It  contained  no 
reference  to  the  British  maritime  code.  See  the  note  in 
Vandal's  "Napoleon  et  Alexandre,"  vol.  i.  pp,  483-4. — 
J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      159 

an  independent  state,  to  be  a  barrier  between 
Russia  and  the  rest  of  Europe.  He  added,  how- 
ever, that  whatever  might  be  decided  on  this 
subject  at  the  congress,  he  did  not  think  that 
Russia  would  succeed  in  making  Poland  an 
appendage  to  that  empire,  the  Poles  being  too 
brave  and  too  determined  ever  to  be  brought  to 
submit  quietly  to  what  they  considered  as  dis- 
grace and  national  degradation.  Bonaparte  spoke 
in  high  terms  of  the  King  of  Saxony,  and  said  he 
was  the  only  sovereign  who  had  kept  faith  with 
him  to  the  last.  In  the  course  of  conversation  he 
mentioned  that  the  Bourbons  were  most  cordially 
hated  in  France,  and  that  nothing  but  the  allied 
forces  could  keep  them  on  the  throne ;  that  the 
nation  might  be  quiet  for  a  short  time,  but  that 
in  a  few  years  there  would,  in  his  opinion,  be  a 
general  insurrection.  We  played  as  usual  at 
vingt-un  until  near  ten,  when  Bonaparte  retired. 
Our  latitude  and  longitude  this  day  at  noon  were 
48°  50'  N.  and  11°  20'  W. 

August  19. — We  had  light  airs  and  pleasant 
weather.  Our  guests  were  all  in  good  humour. 
General  Gourgaud,  who  was  one  of  Bonaparte's 
aides-de-camp  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  per- 
sisted that,  whatever  Bonaparte  might  say  to  the 
contrary,  he  did  mistake  the  Prussian  army  for 


160  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

General  Grouchy's  division,  and  he  attributed 
their  disasters  in  a  great  measure  to  that  mistake. 
He  boasted  much  of  the  exploits  of  that  day  ; 
amongst  other  vauntings  he  declared  that  at  one 
time  he  might  have  taken  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton a  prisoner,  but  he  desisted  from  it,  knowing 
the  effusion  of  blood  it  would  have  occasioned.1 

Bonaparte  to-day  gave  the  admiral  an  amusing 
account  of  his  being  admitted  a  Mussulman  when 
in  Egypt.  He  said  the  sheiks  and  other  chiefs 
there  had  many  consultations  on  the  subject,  but 
at  last  they  admitted  him  and  his  followers  among 
the  faithful,  and  with  express  permission  to  drink 
wine,  provided  that  on  opening  every  bottle  they 
would  determine  to  do  some  good  action.  Bona- 
parte requiring  an  explanation  of  what  was  in- 
tended by  the  term  good  action,  the  head  sheik 
informed  him  such  as  giving  charity  to  people  in 
distress,  digging  a  well  in  a  desert,  building  a 
mosque,  and  such  like.  He  said  that  had  he 
continued  in  Egypt,  things  would  not  have  taken 
the  turn  they  did ;  that  Kleber  was  an  excellent 
man  and  good  soldier,  but  that  he  did  not  under- 
stand or  try  to  manage  2  the  people  of  the  country, 

1  Of  course  this  gasconnade  is  not  to  be  taken  seriously. — 
J.  H.  R. 

2  "  Manage  "  is  evidently  Cockburn's  or  Glover's  translation 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      161 

and  that  his  assassination  was  caused  by  his  having 
beaten  one  of  the  principal  sheiks,  which  was 
considered  an  indignity  to  the  whole.  Bonaparte 
said  that  General  Menou,  who  succeeded  Kleber, 
was  a  brave  man,  but  without  abilities.  He  also 
stated  that  the  Turks  have  at  different  times  sent 
persons  to  murder  him  (Bonaparte),  but  that  the 
people  of  the  country,  from  his  having  humoured 
them,  invariably  gave  him  sufficient  warning  and 
prevented  the  assassins  getting  near  him  ;  whereas 
he  said  the  man  who  killed  Kleber  (who  did  not 
attempt  to  gain  the  good  opinion  of  the  country) 
was  suffered  to  hide  himself  in  Kleber's  garden, 
and  when  the  general  was  walking  there  alone, 
the  assassin  sprang  upon  him  unawares,  and 
stabbed  him,  after  which,  instead  of  attempting 
to  escape,  he  sat  down  at  one  end  of  the  garden 
until  he  was  taken  by  the  general's  guard,  which 
was  almost  immediately  after  he  had  perpetrated 
the  deed.  However,  Marechal  Bertrand,  who 
relates  this  event  in  a  very  similar  manner,  affirms 
that  the  assassin  did  attempt  to  escape,  and  that 
after  a  strict  search  he  was  found  concealed  in  a 
well  in  the  garden.  Bonaparte,  in  answer  to  some 

of  the  French  word  menager,  which  is  better  rendered 
"humour."  Kleber  was  murdered  by  a  Moslem  fanatic  on 
June  14,  1800. — J.  H.  R. 

ii 


i62  NAPOLEONS  LAST  VOYAGES 

questions  put  to  him  by  the  admiral,  said  that  if 
everything  had  even  turned  out  in  Egypt  equal 
to  the  most  sanguine  hopes  and  wishes  he  enter- 
tained on  sailing  for  that  country,  yet  that  never- 
theless he  should  have  returned  as  he  did,  in 
consequence  of  the  information  he  received  from 
France. 

Bonaparte  played  at  vingt-un  as  usual,  and  was 
in  uncommon  high  spirits.  Our  latitude  and 
longitude  to-day  at  noon  were  39°  9'  N.  and 
i  jo  26'  W. 

August  20. — The  weather  continued  fine,  but 
we  had  much  swell,  to  which  I  attributed  Bona- 
parte's not  walking  before  dinner.  Divine  service 
was  performed,  but  not  one  of  our  guests  had  the 
curiosity  to  witness  the  ceremony.  At  dinner 
Bonaparte  asked  the  clergyman  many  questions 
relative  to  the  Protestant  religion,  and  in  what  it 
differed  from  the  Roman  Catholic.  He  walked 
after  dinner,  and  then  went  direct  to  his  sleeping- 
cabin  without  playing  at  cards.  Our  latitude 
and  longitude  to-day  were  37°  19'  N.  and 
12°  14'  W. 

August  21. — Our  weather  continued  much  the 
same.  Captain  Hamilton  of  the  Havannah,  and 
Captain  Mansel  of  the  53rd,  dined  with  us,  and 
Bonaparte,  who  was  in  very  good  spirits,  con- 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      163 

versed  more  than  usual,  asking  numerous  ques- 
tions on  various  trifling  subjects.  We  assembled 
at  the  card-table  earlier  than  usual,  and  the  game 
was  changed  from  vingt-un  to  lottery,  and  we 
became  as  noisy  a  group  as  ever  assembled  on 
such  an  occasion.  Our  latitude  and  longitude 
to-day  at  noon  were  35°  56'  N.  and  13°  16'  W. 

August  22. — We  got  the  north-east  wind  which 
usually  prevails  in  these  latitudes,  with  fine 
weather.  Bonaparte  requested  the  admiral  to 
write  for  some  books  for  him  from  Madeira.  At 
dinner  he  asked  many  questions  about  the  dif- 
ferent islands  in  the  Atlantic,  particularly  to  what 
nations  they  belonged,  on  which  points  his 
ignorance  was  most  glaring.  Talking  of  the 
West  Indies,  he  said  that  had  he  continued  at 
the  head  of  the  French  Government,  he  never 
would  have  attempted  the  re-occupation  of  St. 
Domingo ;  that  the  most  he  would  have  estab- 
lished with  regard  to  that  island  would  have 
been  to  keep  frigates  and  sloops  stationed  around 
it  to  force  the  blacks  to  receive  everything  they 
wanted  from,  and  to  export  all  their  produce 
exclusively  to,  France;  for,  he  added,  he  con- 
sidered the  independence  of  the  blacks  there  to 
be  more  likely  to  prove  detrimental  to  England 
than  to  France.  This  latter  remark  is  a  reitera- 


164  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

tion  of  his  feelings  with  respect  to  England,  as  in 
all  the  calculations  he  makes,  the  proportion  of 
evil  which  may  accrue  to  our  nation  seems  to 
bear  in  his  mind  the  first  consideration.  In  the 
evening  we  played  at  vingt-un,  and  he  retired 
about  his  usual  hour.  Our  latitude  and  longitude 
to-day  were  at  noon  34°  58'  N.  and  13°  31'  W. 

August  23. — Our  north-east  wind  veered  to  the 
east,  freshened,  and  the  weather  became  hot, 
hazy,  and  unpleasant.  About  two  o'clock  we 
made  Porto  Santo,  and  afterward  Madeira. 
Bonaparte  did  not  walk  before  dinner ;  at  the 
meal  he  appeared  pensive  and  out  of  spirits.  He 
asked  the  admiral  some  questions  relative  to 
Madeira,  as  to  its  extent,  how  long  it  had  been 
discovered,  and  by  whom.  Immediately  after 
dinner  he  went  on  the  poop,  and  observed  the 
island  very  particularly  as  we  ran  along  it  until 
we  brought  to  off  Funchal  after  dark,  when  he 
went  to  the  after  cabin  ;  and  after  playing  a  few 
games  at  piquet  with  Madame  Montholon,  he 
retired  to  his  own  cabin,  evidently  out  of  sorts. 
This  day  at  noon  we  were  about  nine  leagues 
E.S.E.  of  Porto  Santo. 

August  24. — We  remained  lying  to  off  Funchal, 
the  Havannah  and  troop-ships  anchored  in  the 
roads  to  procure  water  and  some  cattle,  and  I 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      165 

went  on  shore  to  procure  some  wine  and  fruit. 
Mr.  Veitch,  His  Majesty's  consul,  visited  the  ship, 
of  whom  Bonaparte  asked  numerous  questions 
with  respect  to  the  island,  its  produce,  the  height 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  its  population,  &c. 
Mr.  Veitch  dined  on  board,  and  after  dinner 
Bonaparte  walked  with  him  and  the  admiral  a 
considerable  time,  conversing  on  general  topics, 
when  he  retired  at  once  to  his  bedroom  without 
joining  the  card-table.  This  day  at  noon  we  lay 
to  off  the  town  of  Funchal,  Madeira. 

August  25. — We  had  a  continuation  of  the 
violent  and  most  disagreeable  siroc  wind,  which 
commenced  on  our  first  making  the  island  ;  and 
such  was  the  superstition  of  the  inhabitants,  that 
they  attributed  this  destructive  siroc  to  Bona- 
parte being  off  the  island,  and  were  extremely 
apprehensive  that  their  crops,  which  were  nearly 
ripe,  would  be  more  than  half  destroyed.  The 
frigate  and  troop-ships  did  not  join  until  about 
three  o'clock,  having  been  much  retarded  by  the 
violence  of  the  weather  in  procuring  supplies, 
which  supplies,  owing  to  the  same  cause,  took  us 
until  dark  in  receiving,  after  which  we  made  sail 
to  the  southward.  The  heat  of  the  siroc,  and 
the  disagreeable  nature  of  the  wind,  added  to  the 
motion  of  the  ship,  which  was  very  considerable, 


166  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

evidently  affected  General  Bonaparte.  At  dinner 
he  ate  very  little,  and  was  out  of  spirits  ;  this 
evening  he  played  at  vingt-un  for  about  half  an 
hour  only,  and  then  retired  to  his  bedroom. 
During  the  day,  at  the  recommendation  of  the 
admiral,  he  had  his  standing  bed-place  removed, 
taking  a  large  cot  in  its  stead.  This  day  at 
noon  we  were  about  seven  leagues  S.W.  of 
Madeira. 

August  26. — Though  the  wind  continued  from 
the  east,  its  siroc  qualities  had  left  it,  to  our  great 
relief,  and  this  proved  a  cool,  pleasant  day,  with 
little  or  no  motion.  This  change  brought  General 
Bonaparte  out  of  his  cabin  earlier  than  usual,  and 
he  appeared  in  better  health  than  he  had  been  for 
some  days.  Having  been  on  shore,  he  asked  me 
what  number  of  priests  and  churches  there  were 
at  Funchal,  and  if  there  was  any  theatre.  After 
dinner  he  walked  a  considerable  time  with  the 
admiral,  talking  generally  of  the  affairs  of  Europe, 
and,  among  other  things,  he  told  the  admiral  he 
had  observed  in  some  of  the  French  papers 
brought  from  Guernsey  that  the  King  of  Prussia 
was  about  to  change  the  nature  of  his  govern- 
ment, and  to  admit  a  national  representation  in  it, 
which  he  foretold  would  produce  the  greatest 
difficulties  both  to  the  King  of  Prussia  and  the 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      167 

Emperor  of  Austria.1     He  said  he  knew  there 
were   many  revolutionary   spirits   in   both  those 
countries,  and  that  the  nations  of  the  Continent 
were  not  adapted  for  a  representative  government 
like  England.     On  the  admiral's  remarking  that 
he  had,  however,  adopted  it  in  the  constitution 
which  he  had  himself  established  in  France,  he 
acknowledged  he  had  done  so,  but  added  that  it 
was  not  because  he  considered  it  a  wise  measure 
for  the  nation,  but  because  his  situation  at  the 
moment  required  him  to  yield  this  point  to  the 
popular  feeling,  and  it  being,  he  said,  at  the  time 
his  particular  interest  to  substantiate  any  innova- 
tions, and,  in  short,  whatever  differed  essentially 
from  the  old  system  of  government,  thereby  to 
render  more  difficult  the  restoration  of  the  former 
order  of  things,  and  therewith  the  dynasty  of  the 
Bourbons.     He  went  again  over  the  old  ground 
of  the  military  bias  of  the  French  nation,  and  the 
impolicy  of  exasperating  the  French  people.     He 
spoke  much  of  their  determined  aversion  to  the 
Bourbons,    which    he    said    could    not    but   be 
materially  increased  by  the   idea  of  that  family 
being  again  put  in  possession  of  the  government 
by  means  of  foreign  troops,  who  had  carried  ruin 
and  devastation    into    the    greater    part   of    the 
1  This  rumour  proved  to  be  incorrect. — J.  H.  R. 


168  NAPOLEOJSTS  LAST   VOYAGES 

country.  Therefore  he  was  quite  sure  the 
troubles  of  France  were  by  no  means  at  an  end  ; 
they  might  be  said  to  be  smothered  for  the 
moment  by  terror,  and  by  the  presence  of  the 
allied  troops,  but  if  these  forces  withdrew  from 
the  country  whilst  the  recollection  of  recent 
events  remained  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  people, 
he  averred  that  a  general  insurrection  in  France 
would  take  place  immediately,  and  it  would  cause 
much  difficulty  and  bloodshed  ere  it  could  be 
again  suppressed.  In  the  course  of  conversation 
he  mentioned  that  he  had  left  his  brother  Jerome 
at  Paris,  who  had  determined  to  remain  there  in 
disguise  for  some  time  until  he  saw  the  turn  affairs 
were  likely  to  take ;  he  added  that  he  did  not 
know  what  had  become  of  him  (Jerome)  after- 
ward, as  of  course  he  had  not  been  able  to  hear 
from  him  since.1  After  his  walk  with  the  admiral 
he  went  into  the  after  cabin,  and  before  we  had 
formed  our  card-party  he  retired  to  his  sleeping- 
cabin.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  this  day  at 
noon  were  30°  53'  N.  and  17°  22'  W. 

August  27. — General  Bonaparte  walked  some 
time  with  the  admiral,  during  which  he  mentioned 

1  Jerome  Bonaparte,  after  Waterloo,  retired  to  Wiirtemberg 
with  his  consort,  a  princess  of  that  kingdom.  He  was  for 
some  time  kept  under  some  measure  of  constraint. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      169 

his  having  expended  ,£3,000,000  sterling  in  the 
improvements  at  Cherbourg  ;  that  he  had  con- 
structed there  a  basin,  or  rather  a  kind  of  inner 
harbour  (as  it  was  without  gates),  which  could 
contain  thirty  sail  of  the  line,  and  had  fifty  feet  of 
depth  at  low  water.  The  outer  road,  which  he 
said  was  now  perfectly  safe  in  all  winds,  would 
also  contain  thirty  sail  of  the  line  more.  He  had 
arranged  everything  for  building  ships  there,  and, 
in  short,  for  making  it  a  naval  port  of  the  first 
rank,  and  he  added  that  he  conceived  such  an 
establishment  so  situated  would  have  caused  us 
much  difficulty  with  regard  to  our  possessions  of 
Jersey  and  Guernsey.  The  only  thing  he  dreaded 
relative  to  this  establishment,  and  which  he  was 
therefore  taking  every  precaution  to  avert,  was 
our  getting  momentary  possession  of  the  place  by 
a  coup  de  main  at  any  favourable  juncture,  in 
which  case  he  was  aware  that  a  few  barrels  of 
gunpowder  scientifically  placed  might  destroy  in 
an  instant  what  had  cost  so  much  time,  expense, 
and  labour  to  complete.  This  evening  he  played 
until  about  nine,  and  then  retired  to  his  cabin. 
To-day  at  noon  we  were  about  four  leagues  west 
of  Gomera,  with  a  fresh  breeze  from  the  north- 
east, running  between  the  islands  at  the  rate  of 
about  eleven  miles  an  hour. 


170  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

August  28. — Our  north-east  wind  continued, 
but  not  so  fresh  as  yesterday.  The  weather 
became  hot,  the  thermometer  being  from  78°  to 
80°.  General  Bonaparte  was  particularly  serious 
the  whole  of  the  day,  and  General  Bertrand  was 
very  much  out  of  sorts,  in  consequence  of  the 
admiral  having  refused  to  allow  lights  to  be  burnt 
in  the  sleeping-cabins  all  night.  In  the  evening 
Bonaparte  played  at  whist  for  a  short  time,  and 
that  very  badly,  and  then  retired  to  his  sleeping- 
cabin.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  this  day  at 
noon  were  24°  23'  N.  and  20°  23'  W. 

August  29. — We  had  moderate  weather,  with 
much  swell.  General  Bonaparte  complained 
much  of  the  heat,  and  sat  in  his  sleeping-cabin 
en  chemise  with  the  door  open,  reading  till  about 
two  o'clock,  when  he  made  his  toilet,  and  then 
came  into  the  after  cabin,  where  he  played  at 
chess  until  dinner-time.  Of  late  he  has  taken  no 
exercise  excepting  a  short  walk  after  dinner,  and 
even  during  this  walk  he  generally  leans  half  his 
time  against  one  or  other  of  the  guns.  In  the 
evening  he  did  not  join  the  card-party,  but  played 
at  chess  with  General  Montholon.  Our  latitude 
and  longitude  this  day  at  noon  were  24°  23'  N. 
and  20°  23'  W. 

August  30. — We  had  a  fresh  trade-wind,  with 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      171 

disagreeable  weather  and  heavy  swell,  which 
caused  the  ship  to  roll  considerably.  General 
Bonaparte  seemed  to  suffer  much  from  these 
causes  ;  he  ate  very  little,  seemed  disinclined  to 
enter  into  conversation,  and,  after  being  a  short 
time  on  deck  after  dinner,  he  retired  to  his  own 
cabin  without  playing  either  at  cards  or  chess. 
Our  latitude  and  longitude  this  day  at  noon  were 
22°  27'  N.  and  22°  12'  W. 

August  31. — The  fresh  trade- wind  and  swell 
continued.  The  general,  however,  appeared 
better,  though  the  rolling  of  the  ship  seemed  still 
to  affect  him.  In  conversation  with  the  admiral 
he  mentioned  that  when  his  army  in  Egypt  was 
seriously  visited  by  the  plague,  the  soldiers,  and 
indeed  the  officers,  became  so  disheartened  that 
as  general-in-chief  he  found  it  absolutely  part 
of  his  duty  to  endeavour  to  give  them  con- 
fidence and  reanimate  them  by  visiting  frequently 
the  hospitals,  and  talking  to  and  cheering  the 
different  patients.  He  said  he  caught  the  dis- 
order himself,  but  recovered  again  quickly.1  This 
evening  Bonaparte  played  chess,  and  was  in 
very  good  spirits.  Our  latitude  and  longitude 
to-day  at  noon  were  19°  55'  N.  and  25°  43'  W. 

1  It  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  Bonaparte  had  the 
plague  even  in  its  lightest  form. — J.  H.  R. 


172  NAPOLEOJSTS  LAST   VOYAGES 

September  i. — We  had  a  fresh  trade-wind, 
accompanied  with  uncommonly  thick  weather, 
which  prevented  our  making  the  island  of  St. 
Antonio  as  soon  as  was  expected  ;  but  just  as  the 
sun  set  we  found  ourselves  close  to  the  south- 
west end  of  it,  not  having  been  able  previously 
to  discern  any  part.  We  brought  to,  with  the 
intention  of  communicating  with  the  islands  in 
the  morning,  and  of  waiting  for  the  Peruvian  and 
Zenobia,  which  had  been  sent  ahead  to  recon- 
noitre, and  to  search  for  a  convenient  watering- 
place.  During  this  forenoon  Bonaparte  asked 
many  questions  relative  to  the  Cape  de  Verde 
Islands.  He  also  made  some  minute  inquiries  at 
dinner  relative  to  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  Gulf 
Stream.  This  evening  he  played  a  rubber  at 
whist,  and  then  retired  to  his  sleeping-cabin. 
Our  latitude  and  longitude  to-day  at  noon  were 
17°  45'  N.  and  25°  4'  W. 

September  2. — During  the  night  it  blew  a 
heavy  gale  of  wind,  and  our  party  were  much 
alarmed.  Soon  after  daylight  the  wind  veered 
from  north-east  to  east  and  from  east  to  south- 
east and  south,  still  blowing  so  hard  as  to  render 
it  impracticable  to  communicate  with  the  islands. 
About  noon  the  two  brigs  rejoined  without 
having  been  able  to  procure  anything  what- 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.    HELENA      173 

ever,  and  giving  an  unfavourable  report  as  to 
any  chance  of  procuring  water.  We  made  sail 
to  the  southward  and  westward,  the  squadron 
being  put  to  short  allowance  of  water.  General 
Bonaparte,  in  spite  of  the  weather,  made  his 
appearance  at  dinner  ;  but  owing  to  the  motion, 
he  did  not  seem  to  enjoy  himself,  entering  very 
little  into  conversation.  This  evening  we  played 
a  short  time  at  piquet.  This  day  at  noon  we 
were  about  seven  leagues  off  the  south-west  end 
of  St.  Antonio.  Our  latitude  was  17°  6'  N. 

September  3. — The  wind  continued  to  the 
north-east,  and  became  light,  baffling,  and  calm, 
with  very  hot  weather,  the  thermometer  being 
from  82°  to  83°  throughout  the  day.  Bonaparte 
complained  much  of  the  heat.  To-day,  in  talking 
over  the  affairs  of  France,  amongst  other  things 
he  said  that  after  his  arrival  at  Paris  from  Elba 
he  had  received  assurances  from  the  King  of 
Spain,  and  from  the  Portuguese,  that  whatever 
appearances  they  might  be  forced  to  make,  he 
might  depend  on  their  not  taking  any  active 
offensive  part  against  him.1  Bonaparte  played 
cards  this  evening  for  about  an  hour,  and  then 

1  Spain  in  1815  joined  the  coalition  of  the  Powers  against 
Napoleon  almost  at  once,  and  prepared  to  send  an  army 
to  invade  France. — J.  H.  R. 


174  NAPOLEON }S  LAST  VOYAGES 

retired  to  his  cabin.     Latitude  and  longitude  this 
day  at  noon,  16°  15'  N.  20°  30'  W. 

September  4. — Fine  weather,  with  a  moderate 
breeze  from  the  north-east.  General  Bonaparte 
made  his  appearance  in  the  after  cabin  earlier 
than  usual,  where  he  amused  himself  at  chess 
until  dinner-time.  He  was  very  cheerful  at 
dinner,  and  after  it  he  walked  for  a  considerable 
time  with  the  admiral,  during  which  he  related 
the  Jaffa  poisoning  story,  his  statement  of  which 
was  that,  finding  himself  compelled  to  evacuate 
Jaffa,  and  leave  it  to  be  taken  possession  of  by 
the  troops  of  Djezza  Pacha  (whose  cruelty  of 
character  was  well  known,  and  who  invariably 
mutilated  in  the  most  barbarous  manner  such 
prisoners  as  fell  into  their  hands),  he  ordered  off 
before  him  all  the  sick  of  the  army  which  could 
be  moved,  to  facilitate  which  he  even  lent  his 
own  horses.1  When  the  chief  surgeon  repre- 
sented to  him  that  there  were  a  few  Frenchmen 
in  such  an  advanced  state  of  the  plague  that 
there  did  not  remain  even  a  probability  of  their 
recovering,  and  that  the  attempting  to  move 
them  with  the  rest  would  endanger  the  whole 

1  After  leaving  Acre,  and  again  after  Jaffa,  Bonaparte 
proceeded  some  way  on  foot  so  as  to  hasten  the  progress  of 
the  convoy  of  wounded. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      175 

army,  Bonaparte,  well  knowing  that  if  these 
unfortunate  wretches  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Djezza  Pacha  every  possible  cruelty  would  be 
practised  on  them  in  their  last  moments,  asked 
the  physician  whether  under  the  existing  circum- 
stances it  would  not  be  an  act  of  charity  to 
accelerate  their  death  by  opium ;  and  on  the 
physician  declaring  he  did  not  feel  himself 
justified  in  adopting  this  proposed  measure,  he 
(General  Bonaparte)  ordered  a  council  of  all 
the  medical  men  in  the  army  to  be  assembled, 
to  ascertain,  in  the  first  place,  whether  the 
removal  of  these  people  or  of  any  of  them 
might  be  effected  without  endangering  in  an 
unwarrantable  degree  the  remainder  of  the 
army,  and  whether  there  existed  any  chance  of 
adequate  benefit  accruing  to  them  if  their 
removal  should  be  attempted.  In  the  next 
place,  if  the  council  agreed  on  the  absolute 
necessity  of  leaving  some  behind,  then  to  con- 
sider whether  it  would  not  be  better  for  the 
individuals  themselves  to  relieve  them  of  their 
sufferings  by  administering  opium,  rather  than 
to  leave  them  in  the  state  they  were  to  be  tor- 
mented in  their  last  moments  by  the  cruelty  of 
their  implacable  enemies,  into  whose  hands  they 
would  inevitably  be  doomed  to  fall.  He  said  this 


1 76  NAPOLEOWS  LAST  VOYAGES 

council  was  public,  everybody  knew  what  passed 
in  it,  and  he  therefore  had  been  surprised  at  the 
many  contradictory  and  ridiculous  stories  which 
he  knew  had  got  abroad  respecting  this  transac- 
tion. He  added  that  after  this  medical  council 
had  finished  their  deliberations,  they  reported  to 
him  it  was  their  decided  and  unanimous  opinion 
that  these  people  ought  not  on  any  account  to  be 
removed,  and  that  although  they  were  of  opinion 
there  did  not  exist  a  possibility  of  their  recovery, 
yet  the  majority  of  the  council  could  not  bear  the 
idea  of  adopting  such  a  measure  as  accelerating 
the  death  of  an  individual  under  their  charge, 
however  desperate  his  case  might  be  ;  but  they 
further  stated  that  they  had  every  reason  to 
believe  all  difficulties  on  this  head  would  cease 
by  the  natural  consequences  of  the  disease  under 
which  these  poor  fellows  laboured,  if  the  general 
could  so  arrange  as  to  retain  the  place  forty-eight 
hours  longer,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  they 
considered  it  scarcely  possible  that  one  of  them 
could  remain  alive.  On  receiving  this  report, 
Bonaparte  instantly  determined  on  retaining 
Jaffa  the  time  specified  by  the  council,  and  he 
continued  in  it  himself  with  the  whole  army 
twenty-four  hours,  and  then  left  a  strong  rear- 
guard to  hold  it  the  other  twenty-four  hours,  at 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      177 

the  expiration  of  which  time,  he  said,  the  predic- 
tion of  the  council  was  pretty  well  verified  by  the 
death  of  almost  every  one  of  the  patients  in  ques- 
tion, and  that  the  two  or  three  who  were  left  were 
in  the  very  last  possible  stage.  (This  latter  part 
of  the  statement  was  corroborated  by  Captain 
Beattie  of  the  marines,  serving  on  board  the 
Northumberland,  who  at  that  time  belonged  to 
the  Theseus,  and  who  was  one  of  the  first  who 
entered  Jaffa  after  the  French  had  quitted  it,  and 
even  before  the  troops  of  Djezza  Pacha.  He 
states  there  were  only  three  or  four  Frenchmen 
found  alive  in  Jaffa,  and  those  in  the  last  stage  of 
the  plague.  Captain  Beattie  also  states  that  he 
heard  nothing  of  the  Jaffa  poisoning  story  until 
he  returned  to  England.1)  Bonaparte  further 
stated  that  he  considered  the  measure  he  wished 
to  have  adopted  as  being  more  worthy  of  praise 
than  the  contrary,  and  said  that  had  he  been  one 
of  those  afflicted,  he  should  have  considered  it  the 
greatest  act  of  kindness  to  be  so  dealt  with,  rather 

1  Sir  Sidney  Smith,  on  landing  at  Jaffa,  found  seven 
of  the  French  plague-stricken  still  alive  in  hospital.  The 
story  about  the  giving  the  sick  at  Jaffa  an  overdose  of  opium 
seems  to  haVe  originated  with  Miot,  a  commissary  of  the 
French  army.  Sir  Robert  Wilson  afterwards  repeated  it. 
The  French  physician  with  the  expedition,  Larrey,  refuted 
it.— J.  H.  R. 

12 


178  NAPOLEOWS  LAST  VOYAGES 

than  to  be  left  to  be  tormented  by  the  wanton 
savages  of  Djezza  Pacha's  army.  Such  is  the 
statement  from  this  man  of  the  Jaffa  story,  which 
has  caused  so  much  talk.  Bonaparte  walked 
this  evening  much  later  than  usual,  and  retired 
at  once  to  his  own  cabin.  Our  latitude  and 
longitude  to-day  at  noon  were  15°  34'  N.  and 
26°  36'  w. 

September  5. — We  had  light  winds  with  exceed- 
ing hot  weather.  Among  other  conversation  to- 
day, Bonaparte  recounted  to  the  admiral  the 
following  particulars  of  what  passed  between 
him  and  the  Queen  of  Prussia  at  Tilsit,  when 
(to  solicit  that  Magdebourg  might  be  left  to 
Prussia)  she  joined  the  royal  party  there.  He 
stated  that  had  she  arrived  sooner,  it  is  probable 
she  would  have  gained  her  point  in  this  particu- 
lar, not  only  by  reason  of  the  great  advantage  an 
extremely  clever  and  fine  woman  of  high  rank 
must  always  have  when  personally  urging  any 
suit  she  has  much  at  heart,  but  also  from  the 
inclination  he  (Bonaparte)  then  had  to  meet  as 
far  as  he  conveniently  could  the  wishes  of  the 
Emperor  Alexander,  who,  he  did  not  hesitate  in 
affirming,  was  at  the  time  a  strongly  attached  and 
much-favoured  admirer  of  her  Prussian  Majesty. 
It  was,  he  said,  owing  to  the  King  of  Prussia 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      179 

being  apprised  of  this  latter  circumstance,  and 
consequently  being  extremely  jealous  of  the 
Emperor  of  Russia,  that  the  former  prevented 
the  queen  from  coming  sooner  to  Tilsit ;  and 
not  until  the  Prussian  ministers,  toward  the 
closing  of  the  arrangements,  urged  him  in  the 
strongest  manner  to  send  for  her,  that  they 
might  have  the  benefit  of  her  abilities  and 
influence  to  second  their  endeavours  to  obtain 
better  terms  for  Prussia,  to  which  the  king  at 
last  consented.  When  she  arrived,  the  whole 
party  being  to  dine  with  him  (Bonaparte),  she 
was  introduced  before  dinner,  and  entered  with 
great  vivacity  and  ability  on  the  subject  of  the 
approaching  treaty,  and  strongly  solicited  as  a 
personal  favour  to  herself  that  he  would  consent 
to  leaving  Magdebourg  to  Prussia,  which  she 
said  would  bind  her  family  to  him  by  the 
strongest  ties  of  gratitude  and  respect.1  Bona- 
parte said  her  Majesty  pressed  her  suit  warmly 
and  cleverly,  but  he  merely  replied  to  all  she 
said  in  general  terms  of  civility,  and  avoided 
giving  her  any  decided  answer,  or  entering  at 

1  By  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Tilsit  (July  7,  1807), 
Prussia  ceded  her  lands  west  of  the  River  Elba  (including 
Magdeburg)  to  the  new  Kingdom  of  Westphalia,  ruled  over 
by  Jerome  Bonaparte. — J.  H.  R. 


i8o  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

all  with  her  into  the  merits  of  the  question, 
notwithstanding  which  it  was  evident  by  her 
behaviour  at  dinner  that  she  entertained  san- 
guine hopes  of  succeeding.  He  said  she  sat 
between  the  Emperor  of  Russia  and  himself, 
and  although  most  elegant  and  amiable  in  her 
manners,  she  did  not  for  a  moment  lose  sight 
of  the  object  she  had  in  view.  At  the  dessert, 
on  his  offering  her  a  rose  he  took  out  of  a  vase 
near  him,  she  on  taking  it  asked  if  she  might 
consider  it  as  a  token  of  friendship  and  of  his 
having  acceded  to  her  request.  Being,  how- 
ever, he  said,  upon  his  guard,  and  resolved  not 
to  be  thus  caught  by  surprise,  he  parried  this 
attack  with  some  general  remarks  respecting  the 
light  in  which  alone  civilities  of  this  description 
should  be  regarded,  and  then  he  turned  the 
conversation. 

Notwithstanding  this,  however,  and  his  having 
been  extremely  cautious  throughout  the  evening 
not  to  allow  anything  to  escape  which  might  in 
the  slightest  degree  authorise  the  queen  to 
believe  him  inclined  to  yield  to  her  solicitation, 
yet  when  she  went  away  she  appeared  to  be 
well  satisfied  and  to  have  persuaded  herself 
that  her  endeavours  were  not  to  prove  unsuc- 
cessful. Bonaparte  said  that,  thinking  it  would 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      181 

be  therefore  impolitic  to  leave  the  question  any 
longer  open  for  discussion,  he  caused  the  treaty 
to  be  signed  at  once  on  the  next  morning,  and,  of 
course,  without  any  alterations  in  it  in  favour 
of  Prussia.  When  the  queen  came  the  next 
day  to  dinner,  he  said  she  evidently  showed  her- 
self piqued  and  much  hurt,  but  she  behaved 
with  great  dignity,  and  did  not  once  allude  to 
the  treaty,  nor  to  anything  which  had  passed 
respecting  it,  until  going  away,  when,  as  Bona- 
parte was  handing  her  to  her  carriage,  she 
mentioned  to  him  how  much  he  had  disappointed 
her  by  the  refusal  of  her  request,  and  that  had 
he  complied,  it  would  have  attached  the  whole 
family  to  him  for  ever,  and  so  forth  ;  to  which  he 
only  answered  that  he  should  ever  consider  it  as 
one  of  the  greatest  misfortunes  of  his  life  that 
it  had  not  been  within  his  power  to  obey  her 
Majesty's  commands  in  this  affair,  begging  her, 
however,  to  believe  it  would  always  afford  him 
the  highest  gratification  to  be  able  to  meet  any 
wish  of  hers,  and  adding  more  civil  speeches  of 
this  kind  (saying,  with  a  self-applauding  smile), 
"  Mais  tout  cela  n'6tait  pas  Magdebourg  ") ;  and 
having  reached  the  carriage,  he  put  her  into  it, 
bid  her  good-night,  and  left  her.  He  added  that 
previous,  however,  to  her  driving  off,  she  sent  for 


i82  NAPOLEONS  LAST  VOYAGES 

Duroc  (the  grand  marechal  of  the  palace)  to  her 
carriage,  when,  giving  vent  to  her  feelings,  which 
she  had  till  then  stifled,  she  could  not  refrain  from 
tears  whilst  complaining  to  him  of  her  great 
disappointment,  saying  how  much  she  had  been 
deceived  in  Bonaparte's  character,  and  hurt  by 
what  had  passed.  Early  the  next  morning  he 
said  he  received  a  message  from  her  to  say  that, 
being  taken  suddenly  ill,  she  had  been  compelled 
to  quit  Tilsit  and  return  home  ;  and  thus,  he  said, 
Magdebourg  was  retained,  though  perhaps  he 
had  suffered  somewhat  by  it  in  the  good  graces 
of  her  Prussian  Majesty.  He  said  he  thought 
her  a  most  elegant,  engaging  woman,  and  as 
handsome  as  could  be  expected  for  thirty-five 
years  of  age.  He  spoke,  however,  very  badly 
of  her  character  as  a  wife,  and  particularly  with 
reference  to  the  Emperor  Alexander,  to  oblige 
whom  he  mentioned  (laughing  heartily  as  he  did 
so)  that  he  detained  the  King  of  Prussia  a  whole 
day  by  announcing  an  intention  of  paying  him  a 
formal  visit,  of  which  the  Emperor  Alexander 
took  a  premeditated  advantage  by  setting  off  to 
obtain  thereby  an  uninterrupted  t£te-a-tete  with 
the  queen.1  Bonaparte  played  cards  this  evening 
for  about  an  hour,  and  retired  to  his  own  cabin. 
1  There  is  no  truth  in  these  malicious  insinuations. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      183 

Our  latitude  and  longitude  to-day  at  noon  were 
13°  58'  N.  and  25°  30'  W. 

September  6. — The  trade- wind  continued  until 
about  four  in  the  afternoon,  when  we  had  ex- 
cessive heavy  rain.  Bonaparte,  who  was  in  very 
good  spirits,  had  no  sooner  eaten  his  dinner  than, 
to  the  surprise  of  all,  he  got  up  to  take  his  usual 
walk  on  deck,  notwithstanding  it  was  still  pouring 
with  rain  ;  and  on  the  admiral  remarking  to  him 
the  same,  and  advising  him  not  to  go  out,  he 
treated  it  lightly,  and  said  the  rain  would  not  hurt 
him  more  than  the  sailors  whom  he  saw  on  deck 
catching  the  rain  and  running  about  in  it.  The 
admiral  no  longer  opposed  him,  and  out  he  went, 
accompanied  by  Bertrand  and  Las  Cases,  who 
though  obliged  to  attend  him,  seemed  by  no 
means  to  enjoy  the  idea  of  the  wetting  they  were 
doomed  to  undergo.  It  required  but  a  short 
time  to  obtain  a  complete  soaking,  which  the  trio 
did,  and  Bonaparte  then  retired  to  his  own  cabin, 
from  which  he  did  not  make  his  appearance  during 
the  evening.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  at  noon 
were  12°  41'  N.  and  23°  55'  W. 

September  7  and  8. — We  had  moderate  weather, 
with  occasional  showers,  which  kept  the  air  cool. 
Nothing  occurred  worthy  of  remark.  Our  latitude 
and  longitude  at  noon  on  the  seventh  were  12°  2' 


184  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

N.  and  22°  59'  W.  Fine  weather  with  south- 
south-west  winds.  Bonaparte,  in  conversing  with 
the  admiral  to-day,  mentioned  many  of  the  leading 
characters  in  England.  He  stated  particularly  the 
high  respect  he  entertained  for  the  character  of 
the  late  Lord  Cornwallis,  whose  manners  and 
behaviour  at  Amiens  he  spoke  of  as  being  most 
noble  and  honourable  to  himself  and  the  country.1 
He  spoke  in  equal  terms  of  panegyric  of  Mr. 
Fox,  with  whom  he  said  he  had  had  much  con- 
versation when  he  was  in  France.2  He  said  he 
had  formed  a  great  friendship  for  Captain  Ussher, 
who  had  conveyed  him  to  Elba,  and  added  that 
he  had  hoped  to  have  seen  him  at  Paris ;  that  he 
had  confidently  looked  for  a  visit  from  him  there, 
and  was  much  disappointed  at  his  not  coming  to 
see  him  in  his  prosperity,  as  he  had  commenced 
an  acquaintance  with  him  in  his  adversity.  He 


1  On   March  24,    1802,    Cornwallis   promised  the   French 
plenipotentiary  at   Amiens,   Joseph   Bonaparte,    to   sign   the 
treaty  as  it  then  stood.     He  then  received  contrary  instructions 
from  Downing  Street,  but  signed  the  treaty  with  France  on 
March   25,  as  he  felt  himself  bound  by  his  promise  of  the 
night  before.— J.  H.  R. 

2  Fox  was  presented  to  the  First  Consul  at  the  Tuileries 
in  September,  1802,  during  the  Peace  of  Amiens.     The  Whig 
orator  was  not  favourably  impressed  by  him.     See  "  Memoirs 
of  Charles  James  Fox,"  by  J.  B.  Trotter,  chap,  xii.— J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA       185 

spoke  of  many  others,  but  not  by  any  means  in  a 
flattering  strain.  This  evening  he  amused  himself 
by  playing  at  whist,  and  retired  at  his  usual  hour. 
Our  latitude  and  longitude  this  day  at  noon  were 
1 1°  43'  N.  and  22°  47'  W. 

September  9. — The  south-south-west  wind  con- 
tinued, with  moderate  and  cool  weather.  Bona- 
parte spent  his  forenoon  in  playing  at  chess.  In 
the  evening  he  told  the  admiral  that  whilst  he 
was  at  Paris  he  gained  possession  of  a  corre- 
spondence for  a  foreign  royal  personage  of  high 
consideration  in  England,  which  spoke  in  very 
disrespectful  terms  of  different  branches  of  our 
royal  family ;  that  he  (Bonaparte)  had  been  on 
the  point  of  publishing  these  letters  in  the 
Moniteury  but  had  desisted,  or  rather  recalled 
them  from  the  publisher,  at  the  earnest  inter- 
cession of,  and  from  consideration  of,  the  person 
by  whose  means  he  obtained  them.1  Bonaparte 
played  this  evening  again  at  whist,  and  seems  to 
have  neglected  his  favourite  game  of  vingt-un. 
Our  latitude  and  longitude  at  noon  were  1 1°  24'  N. 
and  21°  37'  W. 

September  10  and  n. — We  had  continued  fine, 

1  These  letters  probably  referred  to  the  Prince  Regent  and 
his  consort,  afterwards  Queen  Caroline;  her  doings  already 
caused  much  scandal. — J.  H.  R. 


1 86  NAPOLEON 'S  LAST   VOYAGE 

pleasant  weather.  Bonaparte  to-day  in  his  con- 
versation merely  asked  general  questions  as  to 
the  progress  we  had  made  in  our  voyage,  and  the 
probable  time  of  the  duration  of  it,  the  distance 
we  were  from  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  what  was 
the  nearest  part.  In  the  evening  he  played  at 
cards,  and  retired  at  his  usual  hour.  Our  latitude 
and  longitude  to-day  at  noon  were  10°  1 1'  N.  and 
20°  56'  W. 

We  advanced  pleasantly  on  our  voyage.  Bona- 
parte, in  conversation  to-day  with  the  admiral  re- 
specting England,  said  that  had  he  succeeded  in 
his  attempt  of  invasion,  and  had  reached  London, 
his  chief  object  and  first  endeavour  would  have 
been  to  have  there  concluded  a  peace,  which  he 
said  should  have  immediately  been  offered  on 
"  moderate  terms  "  ;  but  what  under  those  circum- 
stances he  would  have  considered  moderate  terms, 
the  admiral  could  not  draw  from  him.  He,  how- 
ever, stated  the  relinquishment  of  the  right  of 
maritime  visitation  of  neutrals  as  one  of  the  points 
he  would  have  insisted  on.1  In  the  evening,  when 
we  had  assembled  at  the  card-table,  he  took  up  a 
small  book  of  Persian  tales,  with  which  he  amused 

1  It  is  well  known  that  Bonaparte  determined  to  have  the 
chief  British  Colonial  possessions,  especially  in  the  East 
Indies  and  North  America,  along  with  Malta.— J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      187 

himself  in  reading  aloud  to  the  company,  making 
his  comments  on  these  tales,  and  laughing  heartily 
at  many  parts  of  them.  He  reads  very  distinctly, 
much  slower  than  he  speaks,  and  with  good 
emphasis  ;  but  in  conversation  at  times  it  is 
difficult  to  follow  him,  from  the  quick  manner  in 
which  he  utters  with  a  peculiar  pronunciation. 
After  reading  for  about  two  hours,  and  some 
commonplace  conversation,  he  retired  to  his  own 
cabin.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  to-day  at  noon 
were  8°  48'  N.  and  19°  39'  W. 

September  12. — We  had  a  continuation  of  fine 
and  pleasant  weather.  Having  caught  a  shark 
to-day,  Bonaparte,  with  the  eagerness  of  a  school- 
boy, scrambled  on  the  poop  to  see  it.  It  was 
not  a  large  one,  not  being  more  than  twelve  feet 
long ;  it,  however,  was  sufficiently  so  to  astonish 
our  French  party.  Our  catching  this  shark  was 
the  subject  of  conversation  at  dinner,  when  Bona- 
parte asked  what  was  the  size  of  sharks  in  general, 
as  also  that  of  whales,  the  nature  of  them,  the 
method  of  catching  them,  and  other  similar  ques- 
tions. In  the  evening  we  played  at  vingt-un  for 
about  an  hour,  and  Bonaparte  retired  about  his 
usual  time.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  to-day  at 
noon  were  8°  2'  N.  and  18°  i'  W. 

September    13. — We   had    moderate    weather, 


i88  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

with  south-south-west  winds.  Bonaparte  made 
his  appearance  in  the  after  cabin  and  played  at 
piquet  until  dinner-time,  during  which  he  con- 
versed relative  to  the  Russian  campaign,  princi- 
pally as  to  the  force  employed.  After  dinner  he 
walked  a  considerable  time  with  the  admiral,  con- 
versing on  the  same  subject,  whom  he  assured  in 
the  strongest  manner  that  the  only  objects  he  had 
when  he  undertook  the  Russian  expedition,  and 
all  he  should  have  asked  had  he  been  successful, 
was  the  independence  of  Poland  (to  which  nation 
he  intended  leaving  the  free  choice  of  their  own 
king,  only  recommending  to  them  Poniatowski 
as  worthy  of  such  distinction),  and  to  make  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  engage  to  join  firmly  in  the 
Continental  system  against  commercial  intercourse 
of  any  sort  with  England,  until  its  Government 
should  be  brought  to  agree  to  what  he  termed  the 
"  independence  of  the  seas."  Bonaparte,  how- 
ever, subsequently,  when  talking  of  Moscow,  let 
escape  that  he  had  procured  there  emissaries  to 
disperse  throughout  the  country  amongst  the 
Russian  peasantry  to  bias  them  in  his  favour  and 
against  their  own  Government,  to  explain  to  them 
the  miseries  they  suffered  from  the  unjust  state  of 
slavery  in  which  they  were  kept,  and  to  offer  them 
freedom  and  protection  if  they  would  seek  it 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      189 

through  his  means.  He  said  he  had  received 
many  applications  from  different  bodies  of  them  ; 
and  had  he  been  able  to  have  maintained  himself 
in  the  country,  he  was  quite  certain  he  should 
have  had  the  mass  of  the  population  in  his 
favour.1  He  walked  a  considerable  time  this 
evening,  and  then  adjourned  to  the  after  cabin, 
where  he  amused  himself  by  playing  at  cards 
until  near  ten  o'clock,  when  he  retired.  Latitude 
and  longitude  this  day  at  noon  were  7°  33'  N. 
and  17°  15'  W. 

September  14. — We  had  moderate,  pleasant 
weather.  Bonaparte  passed  this  forenoon  as 
usual.  In  the  evening,  talking  with  the  admiral 
relative  to  Russia,  he  said  that  prior  to  the  death 
of  the  Emperor  Paul  he  (Bonaparte),  while  he 
was  first  consul,  had  received  seven  or  eight 
letters  written  in  his  Imperial  Majesty's  own 
hand,  pressing  him  to  enter  into  close  and  inti- 
mate alliance  for  the  express  purpose  of  exerting 
the  united  efforts  of  the  two  countries  to  humble 
Great  Britain  ;  and  the  emperor  proposed,  if 
Bonaparte  approved  of  it,  to  send  off  at  once  a 
large  Russian  army  to  act  against  the  English 

1  This  is  misleading.  His  proposals  had  scarcely  any 
influence  on  the  Russians,  though  the  Poles  and  Lithuanians 
supported  him. — J.  H.  R. 


IQO  NAPOLEOJSTS  LAST   VOYAGES 

interest  in  India.1  Bonaparte  said  he  was  about 
to  despatch  a  confidential  ambassador  with  full 
powers  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements,  and 
to  communicate  to  the  emperor  his  sentiments  on 
these  points,  when  he  received  the  unwelcome 
intelligence  of  the  emperor's  assassination.  He 
added  that  from  the  opinion  the  Emperor  Paul 
seemed  by  his  letters  to  entertain  of  him  (Bona- 
parte), and  from  the  great  confidence  he  appeared 
to  place  in  him,  he  had  no  doubt,  if  their  negotia- 
tion had  gone  on,  he  would  shortly  have  attained 
sufficient  ascendancy  with  the  emperor  to  have 
induced  him  to  change  the  foolish  and  impolitic 
course  he  was  then  pursuing  in  his  own  country, 
in  which  case  his  life  would  probably  have  been 
saved,  and  he  might  have  become  an  ally  of  great 
importance  to  the  French  ;  and  therefore  Bona- 
parte said  he  considered  Paul's  death  at  the 
moment  it  took  place  as  a  particularly  untoward 
circumstance.  This  evening  we  played  at  whist 
until  Bonaparte  retired.  Our  latitude  and  longi- 
tude to-day  at  noon  were  7°  2'  N.  and  17°  10'  W. 
September  15. — Fine  weather,  with  westerly 
winds.  This  day  was  passed  as  usual,  with 

1  A  Russian  force  was  about  to  start  for  the  Persian  frontier 
when  the  assassination  of  the  Czar  Paul  put  an  end  to  the 
plan.—J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      191 

nothing  particular  worthy  of  remark.  The  whole 
of  the  squadron  which  left  England,  viz.,  North- 
umberland of  74  guns  (Captain  Ross),  Havannah 
of  36  guns  (Captain  George  Hamilton),  Redpole 
of  10  guns  (Captain  Denman),  Peruvian  of  18 
guns  (Captain  White),  Zenobia  of  18  guns  (Cap- 
tain Dobree),  Zephyr  of  14  guns  (Captain  Rich), 
Icarus  of  10  guns  (Captain  Devon),  Ferret  of  10 
guns  (Captain  Stirling),  troop-ship  Ceylon  (Cap- 
tain Hamilton),  troop-ship  Bucephalus  (Captain 
Westropp),  were  in  company,  and  all  perfectly 
healthy.  Latitude  and  longitude  at  noon,  6°  7'  N. 
and  1 6°  26'  W. 

September  16. — Fine  weather.  Bonaparte  to- 
day asked  numerous  questions  relative  to  the 
coast  of  Africa,  and  our  distance  from  it.  He 
amused  himself  before  dinner  by  playing  chess. 
In  the  evening,  when  talking  with  the  admiral  on 
the  propriety  of  the  different  capitals  of  Europe 
being  sufficiently  fortified  to  enable  them  to  with- 
stand for  a  short  time  a  sudden  advance  and 
attack  of  an  enemy's  army,  he  said  he  had  long 
foreseen  the  propriety  of  having  works  of  this 
kind  around  Paris,  but  he  had  been  restrained 
from  ordering  them  by  his  dread  of  the  effect 
it  might  have  on  the  public  opinion  ;  in  concert 
with  which  he  had  considered  it  a  requisite  policy 


192  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

always  to  act,  and  which  even  in  the  zenith  of  his 
power  he  had  never  felt  himself  strong  enough  to 
disregard.  He  added  that  he  knew  full  well  the 
French  character  to  be  such  that  until  the  danger 
was  at  their  gates  they  could  not  have  borne  the 
idea  of  such  a  precaution  being  for  a  moment 
necessary.  This  evening  we  changed  the  game 
of  cards  from  vingt-un  to  "  speculation,"  which 
became  very  noisy,  and  Bonaparte  retired  earlier 
than  usual.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  this  day 
at  noon  were  5°  6'  N.  and  15°  29'  W. 

September  17. — Pleasant  weather,  with  south- 
west winds.  To-day  at  dinner  Bonaparte  was 
extremely  chatty,  and  talked  on  the  subject  of  his 
meditated  invasion  of  England.  The  admiral 
asked  him  if  he  had  procured  any  plans  of  our 
fortifications  at  Chatham,  when  he  replied  he  had 
not,  but  that  he  had  a  general  idea  of  the  lines 
there,  and  that  he  had  no  doubt  of  procuring  in 
time  such  further  information  on  the  subject  as 
was  necessary  for  him  ;  he  said  he  had  obtained 
his  intelligence  very  regularly  from  England  by 
means  of  our  smuggling  boats,  and  that  amongst 
others  Mr.  Goldsmith  (the  editor)  had  conveyed 
him  much  useful  information.  He  said  he  had  a 
personal  interview  with  Goldsmith  at  Boulogne, 
at  one  of  the  periods  he  (Goldsmith)  came  over 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      193 

in  one  of  those  smuggling  boats.  He  added  that 
considerable  sums  of  money  had  been  paid  to 
him  by  the  police  at  different  times,  for  services 
of  this  nature.  He  further  observed  that  he 
believed  Goldsmith  to  possess  talent,  although  a 
most  consummate  rogue.1  (This  was  uttered 
with  such  an  apparent  malicious  cunning  as  to 
make  those  at  table  particularly  notice  it.)  This 
evening,  after  his  usual  walk,  he  joined  the  party 
in  the  after  cabin,  but  instead  of  playing  at  cards 
he  amused  himself  at  chess  until  about  ten,  and 
then  retired.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  this 
day  at  noon  were  4°  32'  N.  and  14°  26'  W. 

September  18. — We  had  light  winds.  From 
the  dulness  of  the  sailing  of  the  troop-ships  we 
have  daily  been  compelled  to  shorten  sail,  with 
which  Bonaparte  has  invariably  found  fault, 
showing  an  apparent  desire  for  the  voyage  to 
end.  His  first  question  on  making  his  appear- 
ance is,  "What  is  the  latitude  and  longitude?" 
then,  "What  progress  have  we  made  since 
yesterday?  What  distance  are  we  from  the 
coast  of  Africa  ?  What  port  are  we  nearest  to  ? 
How  far  are  we  from  the  line  ?  "  and  so  forth. 

1  L.  Goldsmith  was  the  author  of  the  work  "  Secret  History 
of  the  Cabinet  of  Bonaparte"  (London,  1810),  an  untrust- 
worthy work. — J.  H.  R. 


i94  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

No  particular  conversation  occurred  to-day  either 
at  dinner  or  in  the  evening.  Our  latitude  and 
longitude  at  noon  were  3°  55'  N.  and  12° 
56' W. 

September  19. — Moderate  weather.  Bonaparte 
to-day,  in  conversing  again  on  his  former  medi- 
tated invasions,  speaking  of  Ireland,  said  he  had 
arranged  everything  with  that  country  ;  and  if  he 
could  have  got  safely  over  to  it  the  force  he 
intended  sending,  the  party  there  was  so  strong 
in  his  favour  that  he  had  every  reason  to  suppose 
they  would  have  succeeded  in  possessing  them- 
selves of  the  whole  island.  He  said  he  had  kept 
up  constant  communication  with  the  disaffected 
party,  which  he  averred  was  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  the  Roman  Catholics,  but  had  also  a 
very  large  proportion  of  Protestants.1  He  said 
he  invariably  acquiesced  in  everything  they 
wished  for,  leaving  all  arrangements  respecting 
the  country,  religion,  &c.,  entirely  to  themselves, 
his  grand  and  only  object  being  to  gain  the 
advantageous  point  for  him  of  separating  Ireland 
from  England.  He  said  those  who  came  to 

1  Napoleon,  on  September  29,  1804,  planned  to  send 
18,000  troops  from  Brest  to  Ireland;  but  the  scheme  came 
to  nothing.  See  "  Life  of  Napoleon,"  by  J.  H.  Rose,  vol.  i. 
pp.  491-2,  505-6,  510-12. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      195 

him  from  Ireland  generally  came  and  returned 
through  London,  by  which  means  he  obtained 
from  them  information  respecting  both  countries  ; 
and  they  crossed  the  Channel  backward  and 
forward  with  little  risk  or  difficulty  by  means  of 
his  friends  the  smugglers.  But  he  added  that 
notwithstanding  the  great  advantages  he  thus 
derived  from  these  smugglers,  he  found  out  at 
last  they  played  a  similar  game  backward  and 
forward,  and  carried  as  much  intelligence  to 
England  as  they  brought  to  him  from  it,  and 
he  was  therefore  obliged  to  forbid  their  being 
any  longer  admitted  at  Dunkirk,  or  indeed  any- 
where but  at  Gravelines,  where  he  established 
particular  regulations  respecting  them,  and  did 
not  allow  them  to  pass  a  barrier  which  he  caused 
to  be  fixed  for  the  purpose,  and  where  he  placed 
a  guard  to  watch  them,  and  to  prevent  their 
having  unnecessary  communication  with  the 
country.  He  ordered  the  goods  and  other 
articles  they  wished  to  have  to  be  brought  for 
them  to  this  barrier,  for  which  they  paid  a  small 
additional  impost.  We  played  our  usual  game 
at  vingt-un  this  evening.  Latitude  and  longitude 
at  noon  were  3°  17'  N.  and  1 1°  18'  W. 

September  20. — We  had  south-west  winds  and 
cool  weather.     Bonaparte   made  many  inquiries 


196  NAPOLEON S  LAST   VOYAGES 

as  to  our  progress,  and  our  other  French  pas- 
sengers showed  much  impatience  at  the  length 
of  the  voyage.  Bonaparte  neither  walked  nor 
talked  much  to-day,  and  nothing  occurred  worthy 
of  particular  remark.  Our  latitude  and  longitude 
this  day  at  noon  were  2°  39'  N.  and  9°  29'  W. 

September  21. — Cool  and  pleasant  weather. 
To-day  we  had  very  little  of  General  Bona- 
parte's company,  as  he  was  occupied  all  the 
forenoon  learning  English  from  Count  Las 
Cases  ;  but  as  yet  he  has  never  attempted  to 
utter  a  word  of  English ;  and  although  he  has 
been  now  six  weeks  on  board,  he  cannot  pro- 
nounce one  of  our  names  at  all  correctly.  In 
the  evening  he  played  at  whist,  and  retired 
early.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  to-day  at 
noon  were  i°  55'  N.  and  7°  16'  W. 

September  22. — South-west  winds  and  cool 
weather.  Bonaparte's  conversation  to-day  was 
confined  to  the  ceremony  of  crossing  the  line. 
He  inquired  of  the  admiral  the  nature  of  the 
ceremony,  and  how  it  originated.  His  health 
appears  good,  and  he  certainly  looks  better 
than  when  he  embarked  on  board  the  North- 
umberland' ;  his  spirits  are  even,  and  he  appears 
perfectly  unconcerned  about  his  fate.  This 
evening  he  again  played  at  whist.  Our  latitude 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      197 

and   longitude   to-day  at   noon  were  o°    54'  N. 
and  5°  22'  W. 

September  23. — We  had  a  fine  steady  breeze, 
and  crossed  the  line  a  little  before  noon ;  and 
it  is  an  occurrence  worthy  of  remark  that  this 
day  we  have  passed  zero  of  latitude  and  zero 
of  longitude,  and  the  sun  the  zero  of  its  decli- 
nation. This  morning,  soon  after  breakfast,  as 
it  was  known  we  should  cross  the  equator  this 
forenoon,  Marechal  Bertrand  came  and  asked 
if  it  was  not  customary  for  passengers  of  note 
to  make  a  handsome  present  to  the  sailors ; 
and  on  my  replying  it  was  customary  to  make 
presents,  but  not  to  any  amount,  he  said  the 
emperor  was  no  ordinary  person,  and  therefore 
the  present  ought  to  be  no  ordinary  one  ;  and 
he  immediately  went  to  the  admiral  and  asked 
if  he  had  any  objection  to  Bonaparte's  sending 
one  or  two  hundred  napoleons  as  a  present  to 
the  seamen,  to  which  the  admiral  without  hesi- 
tation refused  his  consent,  and  indeed  pointedly 
prohibited  it,  saying  it  was  the  custom  in  a 
manner  to  give  a  mere  trifle,  but  if  Bonaparte 
was  particularly  anxious  to  make  a  present  he 
would  allow  five  napoleons  to  be  given,  which 
sum  was  the  utmost  he  would  allow.  Marechal 
Bertrand  argued  for  some  time,  saying  one 


igS  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

hundred  napoleons  was  the  least  such  a  person 
as  the  emperor  could  offer  on  so  extraordinary 
an  event  as  his  crossing  the  line.  However,  his 
rhetoric  had  no  avail  in  altering  the  admiral's 
determination,  and  it  ended  by  nothing  being 
given  in  the  name  of  Bonaparte.  His  suite  all 
made  their  appearance  at  Neptune's  bar,  and 
each  made  a  present  of  a  napoleon.  Bonaparte 
did  not  make  his  appearance  until  almost  dinner- 
time. During  the  dinner  he  was  cheerful,  talked 
over  the  ceremony  of  shaving,  and  he  did  not 
by  his  manner  show  that  he  was  at  all  piqued 
by  the  refusal  Mardchal  Bertrand  met  with.  In 
the  evening  we  played  at  vingt-un,  and  the 
general  retired  at  his  usual  hour.  This  day  at 
noon  latitude  o°  9'  S.,  and  3°  36'  [sic]  W. 
longitude. 

September  24  and  25. — We  had  the  wind  from 
the  south-west,  with  a  steady  breeze,  and  the 
weather  remarkably  cool.  Nothing  worthy  of 
remark  occurred.  Our  French  party  show  much 
impatience  at  the  confinement  on  board  ship. 
At  noon  latitude  o°  40'  S.,  longitude  2°  22'  W. 

We  had  a  heavy  swell  from  the  westward, 
with  cloudy,  cool  weather.  To-day,  in  conver- 
sation with  the  admiral,  Bonaparte  mentioned 
that  a  short  time  back  he  caused  a  survey  to 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      199 

be  taken  of  the  grown  oak  throughout  France 
fit  for  ship-building — the  report  made  to  him  on 
which   stated    that  there    was   actually  sufficient 
for  building  a  thousand  sail  of  the  line  ;  but  he 
said  France  had  failed  altogether  in  trees  fit  for 
masts,  and  these  therefore  they  were  obliged  to 
get  from  the  Baltic.     He  said  that  understand- 
ing  the    Corsican    firs   were   strong   and    tough 
enough  to  serve  for  masts  during  the  two  years 
immediately  after   their  being   cut   down    (after 
which  time  they  lost  their  elasticity  and  became 
brittle),  and  as  plenty  of  them  could  be  conveyed 
to  France  at  as  little  expense  as  from  the  Baltic, 
he  had  endeavoured  to  bring  them  into  use  for 
the  French  navy,  authorising  their  being  sawed 
into   planks   after  having   served    two    years   as 
topmasts ;    but   this    plan   was  not   approved  of 
by   the    Marine    Department,    as    there    existed 
extraordinary  prejudice   throughout   the    French 
navy  against  masts  made  from  any  spars  except 
those  brought  from  the   Baltic.     He  said  there 
was   a    large    quantity    of    masts    belonging   to 
the    French   Government  at   Copenhagen    when 
Lord  Nelson  made  the  attack   and    consequent 
convention  there,  and  that  at  the  time  he   was 
alarmed  for  the  safety  of  them  ;  but  the  Danes 
kept  their  faith  with  him,  and  he  afterward  got 


200  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

them  all  safe  to  France,  although  he  was  com- 
pelled to  have  them  brought  almost  the  whole 
of  the  way  by  inland  navigation,  being  much  in 
want  of  them,  and  the  coast  being  too  closely 
watched  by  our  cruisers  to  allow  him  to  trust 
them  by  sea.  At  noon  this  day,  latitude  i°  20' 
S.,  and  longitude  i°  16'  W. 

September  26  and  27. — We  had  south-south- 
west winds  and  pleasant,  cool  weather.  Nothing 
material  occurred  ;  the  troop-ships  retard  us  con- 
siderably, and  their  so  doing  is  a  great  subject 
of  complaint  with  our  French  passengers.  At 
noon  this  day,  latitude  2°  4'  S.,  and  longitude 
o°  20'  W. 

The  cool,  pleasant  weather  still  continues,  and 
the  troop-ships  drop  more  and  more  astern. 
Bonaparte  for  these  last  two  days  has  been 
less  communicative,  and  has  kept  his  cabin  more 
than  usual ;  he  seems  to  have  entirely  given  up 
vingt-un  of  an  evening,  playing  either  chess  or 
piquet  in  lieu.  His  health  appears  very  good, 
and  he  says  much  of  his  time  is  occupied  in 
learning  English  ;  however,  it  does  not  appear 
that  he  makes  any  very  great  progress.  This  day 
at  noon  we  were  in  latitude  3°  12'  S.,  and  longi- 
tude o°  57'  E. 

September     28. — Our    pleasant    weather     still 


. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      201 

continues,  with  the  wind  from  the  south-west. 
Bonaparte  walked  a  short  time  both  before  and 
after  dinner  ;  nothing  in  his  conversation  was 
worthy  of  any  particular  remark,  as  he  confined 
it  to  commonplace  questions.  In  the  evening 
we  played  at  vingt-un  as  usual,  while  Bonaparte 
played  at  chess.  At  noon  this  day,  latitude 
4°  68'  [sic],  and  longitude  2°  25'  E. 

September  29. — We  had  moderate  and  fine 
weather.  Bonaparte  appeared  in  very  good 
spirits  to-day,  and  asked  various  questions  rela- 
tive to  the  navy.  After  dinner  he  walked  a 
length  of  time  with  the  admiral  ;  and  speaking 
of  the  navy  of  France,  he  said  he  believed 
some  of  the  superior  officers  were  tolerable 
good  seamen,  but  that  none  of  them  were  good 
officers  ;  that  the  best  of  them  had  been  taken 
during  the  Revolution  from  the  India  and  other 
merchant  vessels ;  and  as  the  French  navy  was 
so  little  employed,  the  officers  were  unaccus- 
tomed to  command  in  any  difficult  or  trying 
circumstances,  and  therefore  when  they  had 
accidentally  fallen  into  such  situations  they 
always  appeared  to  have  lost  their  heads,  be- 
came quite  confused,  and  whatever  they  did 
was  precisely  what  they  ought  not.  He  said 
Admiral  Gantheaume  did  very  well  whilst  with 


202  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

him  (Bonaparte)  at  his  elbow  when  coming 
from  Egypt ;  but  he  added,  if  Admiral  Gan- 
theaume  had  been  left  to  himself,  he  would  have 
been  taken  twenty  times  over,  for  he  constantly 
wanted  to  change  the  ship's  course  to  avoid 
one  enemy  or  other,  and  by  such  over-pre- 
cautions he  would  have  lost  as  much  by  night 
as  he  gained  by  day.  Bonaparte  said  he  there- 
fore obliged  the  admiral  always  to  explain  to 
him  upon  paper  the  exact  situation  of  the  ship, 
and  the  apprehended  danger,  after  which  it 
almost  always  occurred  that  he  took  upon  him- 
self to  desire  the  admiral  to  continue  in  a  straight 
course  for  Frejus,  and  to  this  alone  he  attributed 
their  having  got  safe.  Bonaparte  also  said  it 
was  a  curious  fact  that  Admiral  Bruix,1  on  their 
way  up  to  Alexandria,  had  actually  explained 
to  him  very  minutely  the  decided  disadvantage 
a  fleet  must  labour  under  by  receiving  at  anchor 
an  attack  from  an  hostile  fleet  under  sail  ;  and 
yet  from  the  want  of  recollection  and  presence 
of  mind  upon  emergencies  which  the  general 
had  alluded  to,  their  admiral  a  few  weeks  after 

1  This  should  be  "Brueys."  Admiral  Bruix  remained  in 
French  waters  in  1798-9,  and  failed  to  carry  out  the  instruc- 
tions which  might  have  led  to  the  relief  of  Bonaparte  in  Egypt. 
Brueys  perished  on  the  flagship  E  Orient  at  the  Battle  of  the 
Nile.— J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      203 

received  at  anchor  Lord  Nelson's  attacks,  losing 
his  own  life,  and  nearly  his  whole  fleet,  to  exem- 
plify the  correctness  of  his  ideas  and  the  impro- 
priety of  his  conduct,  but  which  Bonaparte  said 
he  was  positive  would  not  have  been  the  case 
(inasmuch  as  relates  to  the  fighting  at  anchor) 
had  he  himself  been  on  the  spot.  Bonaparte 
added,  on  the  same  subject,  that  it  struck  him 
the  French  admirals  had  generally  on  coming 
to  action  lost  too  much  time  in  making  ma- 
noeuvres about  forming  the  line,  which  had  ulti- 
mately proved  of  no  adequate  advantage.  He 
had  therefore  desired  they  might  be  instructed 
for  the  future,  on  approaching  an  enemy,  that 
a  signal  to  form  the  line  as  convenient  for 
mutual  support,  and  afterward  a  signal  to  engage 
would  be  always  deemed  fully  sufficient  to  make 
to  those  under  their  orders  ;  and  after  this  the 
captain  of  every  ship  in  the  fleet  was  to  be  held 
individually  responsible  to  the  Government  for 
getting  the  ship  he  commanded  quickly  into  close 
battle,  and  doing  his  best  toward  the  destroying 
of  some  one  of  the  enemy,  which  would  at  all 
events  prevent  the  captains  from  covering  their 
own  neglect,  as  Dumanoir  had  done,  by  at- 
tributing "  errors  to  their  chief."1  Bonaparte 
1  See  note,  p.  144. 


204  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

said  he  had,  however,  latterly  resolved  (unless 
some  extraordinary  emergency  made  it  neces- 
sary) not  to  venture  any  more  line-of-battle  ships 
to  sea  until  he  should  have  had  it  in  his  power 
to  have  sent  from  the  different  ports  150  sail 
of  the  line  at  once,  for  the  making  up  of  which 
number  he  had  laid  all  his  plans.  He  affirmed 
that,  from  the  efforts  he  intended  to  have  made 
for  this  object,  he  believed  very  much  time  would 
not  have  elapsed  before  he  would  have  completed 
them  ;  in  the  meantime,  he  said,  whatever  it 
might  have  cost  him,  he  had  determined  on 
always  keeping  ten  sail  of  frigates  at  sea,  for 
the  purpose  of  making  and  improving  his  officers. 
He  added  that  when  his  frigates  had  been  sent 
on  distant  voyages  or  cruises,  they  were  apt  to 
consider  their  danger  pretty  well  over  when 
once  safely  through  our  line  of  cruisers  on>  the 
French  coast,  after  which  they  generally  relaxed 
in  their  vigilance  and  precautions.  He  had 
therefore  decided  to  order  these  ten  frigates  in 
future  to  cruise  only  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
England  or  Ireland,  where  they  would  be  certain 
to  have  enemies,  bad  weather,  and  dangerous 
coasts  to  keep  them  always  on  the  alert ;  and 
those  which  managed  to  escape  being  wrecked 
or  captured,  must  of  course  in  such  situations 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      205 

do  much  more  mischief  to  our  commerce  than 
had  ever  been  done  by  the  French  frigates 
before  in  the  open  seas  and  southern  latitudes. 
To  the  commanders  of  those  who  returned  safe 
from  such  service,  he  said  he  would  have  given 
great  promotion  and  rewards,  and  as  fast  as 
he  heard  of  any  being  taken  or  lost,  he  should 
supply  their  place  by  fresh  ones.1  On  the 
admiral's  remarking  to  him  the  difficulty  he 
conceived  he  would  have  found  in  obtaining 
seamen  to  have  followed  up  this  plan,  he  replied 
that  by  the  conscription  for  the  marines,  which 
he  had  lately  established  in  all  the  maritime 
departments  of  France,  he  would  have  had  as 
many  seamen  as  he  pleased  ;  its  customary  pro- 
duction without  vexation  would  have  given  him 
20,000  men  a  year,  and  already,  for  want  of 
ships  to  put  these  seamen  in,  he  had  been 
obliged  to  form  them  into  regiments  for  the 
protection  of  the  coast.  Admitting  this,  these 
men  would  only  have  been  seamen  because  he 
chose  to  call  them  such.  Bonaparte  having 
walked  this  evening  longer  than  usual,  he  did 
not  join  the  vingt-un  party,  but  retired  early. 

1  This  proof  of  Napoleon's  belief  in  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  is  interesting.  For  his  guerre  de  course,  adopted  after 
Trafalgar,  see  note,  p.  63.  See,  too,  pp.  124,  125. — J.  H.  R. 


206  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

Latitude  4°  52'  S.,  longitude  3°  50'  E.,  this  day 
at  noon. 

September  30. — We  had  light  airs  and  fine 
weather,  with  the  wind  to  south-west.  Bona- 
parte amused  himself  this  morning  by  having 
the  life  of  Lord  Nelson  read  to  him,  and  he 
seemed  to  take  particular  interest  in  that  part 
relating  to  his  trip  to  Egypt,  and  subsequent 
battle  of  Aboukir  Bay,  the  account  of  which  he 
has  requested  to  have  translated.  This  day  at 
noon  we  were  in  latitude  5°  7'  S.,  and  longitude 
5°  6'  E. 

October  i. — Our  fine  weather  continued,  with 
south-west  winds.  Bonaparte  was  again  occupied 
the  whole  of  the  forenoon  in  listening  to  Bertrand 
reading  the  life  of  Lord  Nelson.  At  the  table  he 
was  cheerful,  but  confined  his  conversation  to 
merely  asking  questions.  At  noon,  latitude 
5°  39'  S.,  and  6°  26'  E.  longitude. 

October  2. — The  south-west  winds  still  con- 
tinued, and  the  troop-ships  dropped  further  and 
further  astern  ;  nothing  worthy  of  remark 
occurred.  Bonaparte  seemed  to  have  quite  given 
up  the  vingt-un  party  for  chess,  at  which  game 
he  does  not  appear  to  make  much  progress. 
At  noon  this  day  our  latitude  6°  o'  S.,  longitude 
5°  50'  E- 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      207 

October  3. — Fine  weather.  Bonaparte  walked 
for  a  short  time  before  dinner,  asking  the  distance 
now  remaining  to  St.  Helena,  and  the  probable 
time  of  reaching  it.  At  dinner  he  conversed 
freely  ;  and  speaking  of  his  campaigns,  he  told  the 
admiral  that  at  the  battle  of  Wagram  he  had 
under  his  command  in  the  field,  actually  engaged, 
a  greater  number  of  men  than  in  any  of  his  other 
battles  ;  they  amounted,  he  said,  to  about  180,000 
bayonets,  and  at  the  same  time  he  had  in  the 
field  1,000  pieces  of  cannon.1  At  Moscow,  he 
said,  though  not  much  short  of  that  number,  he 
certainly  had  not  so  many  ;  and  at  the  battle  of 
Leipsic  he  did  not  think  he  had  more  than 
1 40,000. 2  In  answer  to  a  question  put  to  him 
by  the  admiral,  he  said  he  considered  General 
Clausel  to  be  decidedly  the  most  able  military 
officer  now  in  France.  Marshal  Soult  and  other 
of  the  marechals  were,  he  said,  brave  and  able 
men  for  carrying  into  execution  operations 
previously  planned ;  but  to  plan  and  execute 

1  These  numbers  are  slightly  in  excess  of  those   actually 
engaged.     Marshal  Marmont  states  in  his  Memoirs  that  he 
saw  the  returns  of  the  French  army  at  Wagram  as  167,000 
in  all,  that  is  including  the  cavalry  and  artillery. — J.  H.  R. 

2  At  Leipzig,  Napoleon  had  about  190,000  men  and  734 
guns ;   but  the  allies  had,  in  all,  more  than  300,000  men.^- 
J.  H.  R. 


208  NAPOLEONS  LAST  VOYAGES 

with  large  armies,  in  his  opinion  none  of  them 
were  by  any  means  equal  to  General  Clausel. 
Bonaparte  asked  who  were  considered  our  best 
generals,  when  Sir  George  Bingham  having 
mentioned  Lord  Lynedoch,  Lord  Niddry,  Lord 
Combermere,  Lord  Uxbridge,  and  others,  Bona- 
parte replied,  "  But  I  believe  you  think  Lord 
Wellington  the  best."  Our  evening  was  spent 
similarly  to  the  former  ones.  At  noon  this 
day  we  were  in  latitude  6°  53'  S.,  longitude 
6°  40'  E. 

October  4. — Fine  weather,  with  south-south- 
west winds.  The  conversation  of  our  passengers 
was  confined  to  the  fine  weather  we  have  had, 
and  the  probable  speedy  termination  of  the 
voyage.  Every  one  has  hitherto  enjoyed  good 
health  except  Madame  Bertrand,  whose  com- 
plaints have  been  more  mental  than  bodily  ;  she 
has,  however,  suffered  of  late  so  much  as  not 
to  be  able  to  quit  her  cabin.  The  children 
are  remarkably  healthy,  and  certainly  much 
improved  by  the  voyage.  Our  latitude  and 
longitude  to-day  at  noon  were  7°  50'  S.  and 
7°  8'  E. 

October  5. — Our  fine  weather  still  continues, 
and  as  our  voyage  shortens  our  squadron 
diminishes,  having  now  only  the  Peruvian, 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      209 

Zenobia,  and  Bucephalus  in  company,  the  latter 
scarcely  in  sight.  Nothing  particular  occurred 
to-day.  Bonaparte  played  at  piquet  before 
dinner,  and  chess  after.  This  day  at  noon  our 
latitude  8°  50'  S.,  longitude  8°  52'  E. 

October  6  and  7. — This  day  passed  in  the  same 
unvaried  routine,  as  to  wind,  weather,  conversa- 
tion, and  passing  our  time,  as  many  other 
previous  days.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  this 
day  were  9°  35'  S.  and  9°  32'  E. 

The  wind  still  continues  to  the  south-south- 
west. The  Bucephalus  is  no  longer  in  sight,  and 
the  admiral  seems  determined  not  to  be  further 
delayed,  therefore  we  may  expect  to  reach  St. 
Helena  in  another  week,  which  I  hope  may  be 
the  case,  as  our  passengers  are  becoming  daily 
more  and  more  impatient.  Our  latitude  and 
longitude  this  day  at  noon  were  9°  30'  S.  and 
9°  50'  E. 

October  8. — We  have  been  anxiously  expecting 
the  south-east  trade-wind,  but  hitherto  without 
avail.  Bonaparte  to-day  walked  and  talked  a 
very  considerable  time  with  the  admiral,  giving 
him  a  succinct  account  of  his  rise  to  the  eminence 
from  which  he  is  now  fallen.  Bonaparte  said  it 
was  owing  to  the  want  of  officers  at  the  beginning 
of  the  revolutionary  war  that  he  was  sent  for 

14 


210  NAPOLEOWS  LAST   VOYAGES 

(although  then  but  a  young  captain  of  artillery) 
from  the  northern  frontier,  where  he  was  serving, 
to  take  the  command  of  the  artillery  before 
Toulon  r  ;  that  almost  immediately  after  his  arrival 
at  this  station  he  had  pointed  out  to  General 
Carteaux  the  necessity  of  making  a  great  effort 
to  get  possession  of  the  place,  which  was  called 
Fort  Mulgrave  by  us,  which  he  (Bonaparte) 
engaged  to  do  if  General  Carteaux  would  allow 
him,  and  foretold  that  that  place  once  taken 
would  oblige  the  English  immediately  to  entirely 
evacuate  Toulon.  This  proposal,  however, 
General  Carteaux  would  not  listen  to,  and  they 
therefore  went  on  some  time  longer  according  to 
their  former  plan  of  attack,  without  materially 
advancing  in  the  siege  or  doing  any  real  good, 
until  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  people 
coming  to  the  army  to  overlook  what  they  were 
about  (as  was  customary  at  that  time),  Bonaparte 
directly  laid  before  him  his  plans,  and  obtaining 
his  approval,  Carteaux  was  overruled  and  obliged 
to  adopt  the  measures  which  Bonaparte  had 

1  A  curious  misstatement.  Bonaparte,  in  August,  1793, 
arrived  with  his  family  from  Corsica;  he  was  soon  told  off 
to  serve  in  the  "Army  of  Nice";  but,  owing  to  the  lack 
of  officers  and  the  Jacobin  forces  before  Toulon,  was  detained 
by  the  Commissioners  Saliceti  and  Gasparin,  and  sent  to  take 
part  in  that  siege. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      211 

before  proposed  to  him,  which  succeeding  pre- 
cisely according  to  his  predictions,  he  was  in 
reward  promoted  to  the  rank  of  general  of 
brigade.1  He  said  he  afterward  went  with  a 
part  of  the  same  army  into  Savoy,  where  he 
rendered  some  further  services  ;  but  it  having 
been  just  then  determined,  in  consequence  of  the 
scarcity  of  officers  for  the  infantry,  to  draft  into  it 
some  of  the  officers  of  artillery,  and  it  falling  to 
his  (General  Bonaparte's)  lot  to  be  one  of  these, 
he  quitted  the  army  and  went  to  Paris  to  remon- 
strate, and  to  endeavour  to  avoid  being  so 
exchanged,  but  meeting  with  an  unfavourable 
reception  from  a  general  of  artillery,  who  was  a 
representative  of  the  people,  and  who  had  the 
chief  management  of  these  arrangements.  After 
some  high  words  passing  between  them,  he 
(Bonaparte)  retired  in  disgust,  and  putting  on 
the  dress  of  the  Institute  of  Paris,  to  which  he 
then  belonged  (having  been  elected  to  it  in 
consequence  of  his  proficiency  in  mathematics), 
he  continued  in  Paris,  endeavouring  to  keep 
quiet  and  from  the  armies,  which  he  said,  how- 
ever, he  should  at  last  have  been  obliged  to  have 
joined,  perhaps  in  a  subordinate  capacity,  had 
not  the  advance  of  the  Austrian  general  De  Vins 
1  See  note,  p.  56. 


212  NAPOLEON'S  LAST    VOYAGES 

into  Italy,  and  the  retreat  and  alarm  of  the 
French  army  opposed  to  him,  spread  considerable 
consternation  at  Paris,  which  induced  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety  (who  knew  General 
Bonaparte  was  well  acquainted  with  the  locality 
of  that  country)  to  send  for  him  to  consult  with 
him  on  the  best  measures  to  be  adopted  ;  l  and 
they  were  so  satisfied  with  what  he  laid  before 
them  on  the  subject,  that  they  immediately 
caused  him  to  draw  instructions  for  their  general 
in  Italy,  upon  his  (Bonaparte's)  advice,  and  the 
committee  then  directed  that  General  Bonaparte 
might  remain  near  them  in  Paris  to  assist  them 
on  such  military  points  as  they  might  wish  to 
consult  him  upon.  The  advice  he  gave,  as  before 
mentioned,  Bonaparte  said  proved  efficacious ; 
their  Italian  army  took  up  the  position  he  had 
pointed  out,  and  thereby  was  enabled  to  stand  its 
ground,  without  falling  any  farther  back,  in  spite 

1  De  Vins  occupied  Savona  in  June,  1795,  and  the  French 
retreated  to  Loano.  Bonaparte  had  drafted  his  first  plan  of 
campaign  for  Italy  at  Colmars  on  May  21,  1794.  The  second 
plan,  or  plans,  belong  to  July,  1795.  In  August,  Bonaparte 
was  appointed  to  a  post  in  the  Typographical  Bureau  of  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety.  He  did  not,  as  here  stated,  hold 
this  post  continuously  up  to  13  Vendemiare  (1795);  for  he 
was  dismissed  from  the  army  and  the  public  service  on 
September  15,  1795,  owing  to  his  having  refused  to  go  to 
La  Vendee  as  an  infantry  officer. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      213 

of  every  effort  of  the  Austrian  general  to  force  it, 
until  it  became  strong  enough  to  attack  in  its  turn, 
which  it  ultimately  did,  and  then  defeated  General 
De  Vins,  and  was  most  completely  successful. 
Bonaparte  said  he  gained  considerable  credit  on 
this  account,  and  he  remained  at  Paris  attached 
to  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  until  the  13 
Venddmiare,  the  day  on  which  the  Convention 
was  attacked  by  the  revolted  sections  of  Paris, 
which  last  having  gained  considerable  advantage 
over  the  troops  of  the  Convention,  then  under 
the  command  of  General  Menou,  Bonaparte  was 
sent  for  by  the  Convention,  and  placed  in  the 
command  of  the  troops  in  lieu  of  Menou  ; l  and 
succeeding  in  defeating  the  revolted  sections,  and 
in  restoring  order,  he  was  immediately  made 
commandant  of  Paris,  which  situation,  he  said, 
gave  him  considerable  consequence,  and  in  which 
he  remained  until  he  was  made  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  army  of  Italy.  He  said  it  was  not 
until  after  the  battle  of  Lodi  that  he  entertained 
an  idea  of  ever  being  sufficiently  in  consequence 
to  authorise  his  some  day  or  other  interfering 
with  the  government  of  France ;  but  then,  find- 
ing all  his  plans  to  succeed  so  very  far  beyond 

1  Bonaparte  was  merely  included  among  the  generals  placed 
under  the  command  of  Barras. — J.  H.  R. 


214  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

his  own  expectations,  he  began  to  look  forward 
(though  without  any  decided  plan)  to  such  events 
as  afterward  took  place,  and  he  said  the  quantity 
of  money  which  he  sent  from  Italy  to  France 
with  these  views  very  considerably  increased  his 
popularity.  After  his  campaign  of  Italy,  and  the 
consequent  suspension  of  hostilities  with  Austria, 
he  said  the  Directory  became  very  jealous  of  his 
popularity,  and  were  therefore  anxious  to  get  him 
into  some  scrape,  to  avoid  which  it  required  his 
utmost  caution  &&&  finesse  ;  and  this  induced  him 
not  only  to  refuse  an  appointment  offered  him  to 
conduct  the  diplomatic  discussions  then  going  on 
with  Austria,  but  also  the  appointment  (which 
was  soon  afterward  offered  him)  to  command  the 
army  for  the  invasion  of  England.1  But  when 
the  command  of  the  Egyptian  expedition  was 
proposed  to  him  he  immediately  saw  the  advan- 
tages it  offered  him  for  getting  out  of  the  way  of 
a  jealous,  arbitrary  Government  (by  its  measures 

1  Incorrect.  Bonaparte  took  diplomatic  matters  into  his 
own  hands  at  the  time  of  the  signature  of  the  Preliminaries 
of  Peace  with  Austria  at  Leoben  (April  18,  1797),  and  kept 
them  in  his  hands  until  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  at  Campo 
Formio  (October  17,  1797).  He  was  appointed  to  command 
the  "Army  of  England,"  but  reported  in  February,  1798,  that 
that  expedition  was  impracticable.  The  Egyptian  enterprise 
at  that  time  was  his  dearest  wish. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      215 

running  itself  to  ruin),  and  by  placing  himself  at 
the  head  of  an  army  for  an  expedition  almost 
certain  of  success,  leaving  it  open  to  him  to 
return  with  increased  popularity  whenever  he 
might  judge  the  crisis  favourable.  Therefore,  he 
said,  the  Directory  being  anxious  to  get  him  out 
of  France,  and  he  being  equally  anxious  to  get 
away  from  them,  this  Egyptian  expedition  did 
not  fail  to  please  both  parties,  and  he  warmly 
entered  into  it  the  moment  it  was  proposed  ;  but 
he  declared  the  proposition  of  this  expedition  did 
not  originate  with  himself.1  Having  thus  left 
France,  Bonaparte  said  he  anxiously  looked  for 
the  events  which  brought  him  back  to  France  ; 
and  on  his  return  there,  he  was  soon  well  assured 
that  there  no  longer  existed  in  it  a  party  strong 
enough  to  oppose  him,  and  he  immediately 
planned  the  revolution  of  the  i8th  Brumaire. 

He  said  that  although  he  might  on  that  day 
have  run  some  personal  risk,  owing  to  the  con- 
fusion which  was  general,  yet  everything  was 
so  arranged  that  it  could  not  possibly  have 
failed,  and  that  the  government  of  France  from 
that  day  became  inevitably  and  irretrievably 

1  Magallon,  Consul  of  France  in  Egypt,  advocated  the 
expedition  in  a  report  received  in  February,  1798.  Bonaparte 
also  pressed  strongly  for  it. — J.  H.  R. 


216  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

in  his  hands  and  of  those  of  his  adherents.1  He 
said,  therefore,  that  all  the  stories  and  reports 
which  might  have  been  circulated  of  any  in- 
tentions of  arresting  him,  and  of  opposing  his 
intentions,  were  all  nonsense,  and  without  any 
foundation  in  truth;  for  his  plans  had  been  too 
long  and  too  well  laid  to  admit  of  being  so 
counteracted.  He  said  that  after  he  became  first 
consul,  plots  and  conspiracies  against  his  life 
were  very  frequent,  but  by  vigilance  and  good 
fortune  they  had  all  been  discovered  and  frus- 
trated. He  said  that  one  which  was  the  nearest 
proving  fatal  to  him  was  that  in  which  Pichegru, 
Georges,  and  Moreau  were  concerned — thirty-six 
of  this  party  had  been  actually  in  Paris  six  weeks 
without  the  police  knowing  anything  of  it — and 
which  was  at  last  discovered  by  an  emigrant 
apothecary,2  who,  being  informed  against,  and 

1  The  coup  d'etat  of  19  Brumaire  (November    10),    1799, 
would  have  failed   but  for  the   skill   of  Lucien   Bonaparte, 
who  refused  to   put  to  the  Council  the  motion  of  outlawry 
against  his  brother. — J.  H.  R. 

2  This  apothecary  was  Querel,  or  Querelle,  who  was  quite 
possibly  an  agent  of  the  police.     He  disclosed  (we  should  now 
say  "disclosed"  rather  than  "discovered")  the  news  on  February 
14,  1804.     It  is  certain  that  Napoleon,  through  his  unofficial 
police,  that  of  Fouche,  knew  of  the  plot ;    for  he  wrote  on 
November  i,  1803,  to  his  chief  controller  of  police,  that  he 
must  not  be  in  a  hurry  about  making  the  arrests. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      217 

secured  after  landing  from  an  English  man-of- 
war,  and  the  police  having  entertained  some 
suspicions  in  consequence  of  the  numbers  which 
had  been  reported  to  have  landed  clandestinely 
about  this  time,  it  was  judged  this  apothecary 
would  be  a  likely  person  to  bring  to  confession,  if 
properly  managed.  Therefore,  being  condemned 
to  death,  and  every  preparation  made  for  his 
execution,  his  life  was  offered  him  if  he  would 
give  any  intelligence  sufficiently  important  to 
merit  such  indulgence,  when  the  apothecary  im- 
mediately caught  at  the  offer,  and  gave  the  names 
of  the  thirty-six  persons  before  alluded  to,  every 
one  of  whom,  with  Pichegru  and  Georges,  were, 
by  the  vigorous  measures  adopted,  found  and 
secured  in  Paris  within  a  fortnight.  Bonaparte 
said  (from  what  he  afterward  learnt)  that  previous 
to  this  plot  being  discovered  it  would  probably 
have  proved  fatal  to  him,  had  not  Georges  insisted 
upon  being  appointed  a  consul,  which  Moreau 
and  Pichegru  would  not  hear  of,  and  therefore 
Georges  and  his  party  could  not  be  brought  to 
act.1  He  said  also  that  it  was  to  be  at  hand  for 
the  purpose  of  aiding  in  this  conspiracy,  and  to 

1  This  is  incorrect.  Moreau  withdrew  from  all  connection 
with  Pichegru  as  soon  as  he  knew  that  he  was  bound  up 
with  Cadoudal.— J.  H.  R. 


218  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

take  advantage  of  any  confusion  that  might  arise, 
that  the  Duke  D'Enghien  took  up  his  residence 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Strasburg,  in  which  city 
Bonaparte  said  he  had  certain  information  of  the 
duke's  having  been  in  disguise  several  times. 
On  the  admiral  asking  Bonaparte  if  the  report  of 
his  having  sent  an  order  for  the  duke's  reprieve, 
which  unfortunately  arrived  too  late,  was  true,  he 
replied  it  certainly  was  not  true  ;  that  the  duke 
was  condemned  for  having  conspired  against 
France,  and  he  (Bonaparte)  was  determined  from 
the  first  moment  to  let  the  law  take  its  course 
respecting  him,  to  endeavour  if  possible  to  check 
the  frequent  conspiracies.1  On  the  admiral's 
mentioning  that  the  Duke  D'Enghien  was  taken 
from  the  territory  of  the  Duke  of  Baden,  Bona- 
parte replied  that  did  not  in  his  opinion  alter  the 
case  of  the  Duke  D'Enghien.  He  said  the 
Duke  of  Baden  might  have  reason  to  complain  of 
the  violation  of  his  territory,  but  that  was  an 
affair  to  be  settled  between  him  and  the  Duke  of 

1  This  admission,  and  Napoleon's  insertion  of  a  similar 
statement  in  his  will,  do  away  with  all  the  efforts  made  by 
his  apologists  to  throw  the  blame  on  Talleyrand,  &c.  Napoleon, 
before  he  gave  the  final  instructions  which  led  to  the  death  of 
the  Duke,  knew  quite  well  that  he  had  had  no  connection  with 
the  Cadoudal  plot.  See  "Camb.  Modern  History,"  vol.  ix. 
(Napoleon),  pp.  30-31 — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      219 

Baden,  and  not  with  the  Duke  D'Enghien,  whom, 
when  he  had  got  him  within  the  territory  of 
France  (no  matter  how),  they  had  full  right  to 
try  and  punish  for  any  act  committed  by  him 
in  France  against  the  existing  Government. 
Having  walked  very  late  this  evening,  we  played 
a  game  of  chess  and  retired.  At  noon  our 
latitude  was  9°  55'  S.,  longitude  8°  56'  E. 

October  9-14. — Moderate  weather,  with  a  con- 
tinuation of  south-west  winds  ;  nothing  worth 
mentioning  occurred  to-day.  Our  latitude  and 
longitude  at  noon  were  10°  23'  S.  and  7°  21'  E. 

Weather  the  same  as  heretofore  ;  the  Redpole 
in  sight  at  a  great  distance.  Our  latitude  and 
longitude  this  day  at  noon  were  10°  59'  S.  and 

5°  4i'  E. 

The  wind  southerly.  Our  conversation  was 
confined  to  the  approaching  termination  of  our 
voyage.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  at  noon 
were  12°  2'  S.  and  4°  n'  E. 

We  have  at  length  got  the  south-east  trade- 
wind,  and  are  making  rapid  strides  toward  St. 
Helena.  Our  latitude  and  longitude  to-day  at 
noon  were  14°  8'  S.  and  4°  29'  E. 

We  had  a  steady  south-east  trade,  and  cool, 
pleasant  weather.  Bonaparte  for  some  days  past 
has  been  less  communicative  than  usual,  and  our 


220  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

days  have  passed  in  one  continued  sameness. 
Our  latitude  and  longitude  to-day  at  noon  were 
15°  23'  S.  and  4°  54'  E. 

Pleasant  weather.  Numerous  were  the  con- 
jectures whether  or  not  we  should  see  the  land. 
The  admiral  decided  we  should  see  it  at  six 
o'clock,  and  so  correct  was  he  in  his  calculations 
that  the  time  we  saw  it  did  not  differ  a  minute, 
at  which  Bonaparte  and  all  the  French  party 
seemed  much  astonished.  The  Zenobia  was 
despatched  to  apprise  the  governor  of  our 
approach,  and  we  lay  to  for  the  night.  Our 
latitude  and  longitude  at  noon  were  16°  8'  S. 
and  5°  57'  E. 

October  1 5. — We  anchored  about  half-past  ten, 
and  found  here  the  Havannah,  Icarus,  and 
Ferret,  which  had  got  the  start  of  us.  The 
governor  came  on  board,  and  the  admiral 
returned  with  him  to  determine  on  the  spot  for 
Bonaparte's  future  abode.  We  amused  ourselves 
in  surveying  the  stupendous  barren  cliffs  of 
St.  Helena,  whose  terrific  appearance  seemed  to 
but  ill  accord  with  the  feelings  of  our  guests.  In 
the  evening  the  admiral  returned,  having  taken  a 
house  in  the  town  as  a  temporary  residence  for 
Bonaparte  and  his  followers. 

October  16. — The  admiral  went  on  shore  early 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      221 

for  the  purpose  of  visiting  Long  wood  House,  to 
see  how  far  it  would  be  able  to  accommodate  our 
guests.  He  returned  early  to  dinner,  and  made 
a  favourable  report  of  the  situation  of  Longwood. 
Marechal  Bertrand  went  on  shore  in  the  after- 
noon to  arrange  the  lodging,  but  Bonaparte,  at 
his  own  particular  request,  delayed  disembarking 
until  it  was  dark,  to  avoid  the  gaze  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, who  were  crowded  on  the  wharf  to  see  a 
person  who  had  heretofore  kept  nations  in  a 
state  of  warfare  and  dread  for  nearly  twenty 
years.  We  landed  about  seven  o'clock,  and  all 
the  French  party  were  lodged  at  the  boarding- 
house  taken  for  them  at  the  lower  end  of  the  town.1 
The  next  morning 2  at  six  o'clock  Bonaparte 
mounted  on  horseback,  and,  in  company  with  the 
admiral,  visited  Longwood  House  (the  residence 
of  the  lieutenant-governor,  and  belonging  to  the 
Company),  which  had  been  previously  fixed  on 
by  the  admiral  and  governor  as  the  future  resi- 
dence of  Bonaparte  and  his  suite.  Bonaparte 
seemed  very  well  satisfied  with  the  situation, 

1  We  are  informed  that  in  the  original  manuscript  the  next 
entry  is  not  dated,  but  was  evidently  written  in  by  the  same 
hand  some  months  later,  from  notes  taken  at  various  times. 

Napoleon   landed  at  Jamestown,  St.  Helena,  on  October 
17,  i8i5.-J.  H.  R. 

2  That  is,  on  October  18.— J.  H.  R. 


222  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

and  expressed  a  desire  to  occupy  it  as  soon  as 
possible.  This  house,  however,  requiring  not 
only  repairing  but  considerable  enlarging,  which 
would  occupy  much  time,  and  the  general  men- 
tioning his  dislike  to  return  to  the  town,  the 
admiral  proposed  his  visiting  the  "  Briars,"  a 
small  cottage  (the  residence  of  Mr.  Balcombe), 
which  was  near  the  Longwood  Road,  and  about 
a  mile  and  a  quarter  from  the  town. 

This  proposition  was  immediately  acquiesced 
in  by  Bonaparte,  and  on  reaching  this  cottage 
he  instantly  expressed  a  wish  to  be  allowed  to 
occupy  a  small  detached  building  on  an  eminence 
close  to  the  cottage  (built  by  Mr.  Balcombe  as 
a  dining-room),  of  about  twenty-two  feet  by 
sixteen,  with  a  very  small  ante-room,  and  two 
garrets  overhead,  until  Longwood  House  might 
be  ready,  stating  there  was  quite  room  enough 
for  him.  This  request  was  immediately  complied 
with,  and  the  admiral  returned  to  the  town  by 
himself,  leaving  Bonaparte  in  charge  of  Mr. 
Balcombe's  family.  Bonaparte's  camp-bed  was 
put  up  in  this  room  without  delay  ;  Count  Las 
Cases  and  his  son  occupied  the  two  garrets  over 
it.  After  a  few  days  a  marquee  was  attached  to 
the  front  of  this  building  and  fitted  up  as  a 
dining-room ;  and  here  Bonaparte  passed  the 


s  2 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      223 

first  two  months  of  his  detention,  without  going 
out  of  the  grounds,  except  in  one  or  two 
instances.  He  seldom  came  out  of  his  room 
until  the  afternoon,  when  he  amused  himself  by 
walking  in  the  garden  (a  very  productive  and 
perfectly  secluded  spot,  abounding  with  various 
fruits,  such  as  mangoes,  apples,  guavas,  pome- 
granates, oranges,  lemons,  grapes,  figs,  peaches, 
&c.),  or  reading  in  a  small  bower  of  vines,  which 
was  lined  for  him  with  canvas  to  keep  out  the 
rain,  of  which  there  was  daily  more  or  less.  In 
the  evening  he  generally  invited  himself  into  the 
cottage,  and  played  cards  with  the  family  for  two 
or  three  hours.  Mr.  Balcombe's  family  consists 
of  himself  (a  truly  good-natured  and  most  hos- 
pitable, liberal  man  of  plain  manners),  Mrs. 
Balcombe,  two  Miss  Balcombes  (women  grown, 
although  the  one  is  but  fifteen  and  the  other 
between  thirteen  and  fourteen),  and  two  boys, 
the  one  about  seven  and  the  other  five  years  old. 
Neither  Mr.  nor  Mrs.  Balcombe  understands 
French,  but  both  the  Miss  Balcombes  speak  it 
tolerably  well,  and  Bonaparte  appeared  much 
delighted  in  their  society.1  These  young  ladies 

1  For  the  Balcombes  and  their  house,  see  Mrs.  Abell 
(Betsy  Balcombe),  "  Recollections  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
at  St.  Helena"  (London,  1844);  also  Las  Cases,  "Memorial 
de  Ste.  Helene,"  under  date  October  r  7  et.  seq.,  1815. — J.  H.  R. 


224  NAPOLEON'S  LAST  VOYAGES 

in  a  few  days  became  perfectly  familiar,  and  the 
general  seemed  highly  pleased  with  their  nawett, 
particularly  that  of  the  younger  (a  pretty  girl, 
and  a  most  complete  romp  when  out  of  sight  of 
her  father).  He  occasionally  so  completely  laid 
aside  his  imperial  dignity  as  to  romp  with  these 
young  ladies,  who  during  such  diversions  as 
"  Blindman's  Bluff,"  &c.,  called  him  by  the 
familiar  appellation  of  "  Boney "  ;  indeed,  the 
younger,  who  appear  d  his  favourite,  said  any- 
thing and  everything  to  him  her  lively  imagina- 
tion dictated,  asking  every  possible  question,  and 
he  answering  without  the  slightest  apparent 
reserve.  About  the  middle  of  December,  after 
very  great  exertions  of  the  admiral,  with  the  aid 
of  the  crew  of  the  Northumberland,  Longwood 
House  was  sufficiently  repaired,  augmented,  and 
furnished  for  Bonaparte  and  all  his  followers, 
with  the  exception  of  Marechal  Bertrand,  for 
whom  a  small  cottage  near  Longwood  has  been 
hired,  until  some  detached  apartments  are 
erected  within  the  grounds  of  Longwood  as  a 
residence  for  him  and  Madame  Bertrand. 
Longwood  House,  of  which  a  plan  is  annexed, 
is  nearly  five  miles  from  James  Town.  The 
first  three  miles  of  the  road  are  up-hill  and 
zigzag  ;  the  other  part  is  level,  round  a  very 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      225 

deep  and  dreary  looking  ravine,  which,  con- 
trasted with  the  entrance  of  the  grounds,  adds 
much  to  their  appearance,  which  is  really  that  of 
an  English  gentleman's  country-seat.  It  is  built 
on  the  most  level  spot  on  the  island,  in  a  park  of 
about  four  miles  in  circumference.  The  house  is 
now  made  commodious  and  comfortable  ;  the 
rooms  are  not  large,  but,  including  the  servants' 
rooms,  there  are  more  than  forty  in  number, 
as  described  in  the  accompanying  plan,  and 
tolerably  well  furnished.  The  air  at  Longwood 
is  cooler  than  any  other  part  of  the  island,  the 
thermometer  seldom  rising  above  65°.  It  is 
about  1,750  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and 
is  surrounded  by  a  very  extensive  plain,  on 
which  the  53rd  Regiment  are  encamped.  The 
grounds  of  Longwood  are  thickly  planted  with 
an  indigenous  tree  called  gum-wood,  which  at  a 
distance  has  a  pleasing  appearance,  but  when  in 
the  park  the  one  continued  sameness  of  a  stunted 
tree  with  dark  green  foliage  is  tiresome  to  the 
eye.1  From  the  house  you  have  a  commanding 
view  to  the  eastward  of  the  sea  and  the  shipping, 
and  to  the  northward  the  camp  of  the  53rd  forms 

1  Surgeon  Henry,  "  Events  of  a  Military  Life  "  (chap,  xxviii.), 
gives  a  glowing  account  of  the  climate  and  shrubs,  &c.,  of  the 
upper  part  of  St.  Helena. — J.  H.  R. 

'5 


226  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

a  pleasing  object  in  the  foreground  to  any  one 
except  Bonaparte,  who  seems  to  loathe  the  sight 
of  a  British  soldier,  and  at  whose  particular 
request  great  pains  were  taken  to  place  the  camp 
out  of  his  sight.  But  this  could  not  be  done 
without  giving  up  the  very  best  situation  for  a 
camp.  Part  of  the  park  is  cultivated  as  a  farm 
by  the  Company,  and  forms  an  agreeable  varia- 
tion. The  grounds  of  Longwood  are  entirely 
private  to  Bonaparte  (with  the  exception  of  the 
farmer  and  his  labourers,  who  are  confined  to  the 
cultivated  part). 

Sentries  are  placed  around  the  park  to  prevent 
all  intruders,  and  no  one  can  enter  without  a  pass 
from  the  governor,  the  admiral,  or  the  com- 
mandant of  the  forces.  Some  distance  without 
the  park  there  is  a  second  cordon  of  pickets  and 
sentinels  forming  an  enceinte  of  about  twelve 
miles,  within  any  part  of  which  Bonaparte  or  any 
of  his  followers  can  amuse  themselves  by  either 
walking  or  riding,  unaccompanied  by  any  one, 
but  they  cannot  extend  their  excursions  beyond 
this  boundary  without  being  accompanied  by  an 
English  officer — if  Bonaparte  himself,  by  a 
captain,  for  which  purpose,  and  to  superintend 
the  guard  at  Longwood  Gate,  and  the  sentries 
placed  around  the  house  after  dark,  a  captain  of 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO   ST.   HELENA      227 

the  53rd  has  constantly  lived  in  a  room  attached 
to  the  house.  A  carriage,  a  phaeton,  and  twelve 
horses  have  been  furnished  for  Bonaparte's  use, 
and  he  frequently  amuses  himself  both  on  horse- 
back and  in  his  carriage,  but  he  has  declared  he 
will  not  go  without  the  boundary,  so  long  as  he 
is  restricted  to  be  accompanied  by  an  English 
officer,  to  do  away  which  he  has  used  every 
possible  argument  and  endeavour  with  the 
admiral,  but  to  no  avail.  Bonaparte,  on  first 
taking  up  his  abode  at  Longwood,  expressed  a 
great  dislike  to  see  soldiers  near  him,  and  carried 
his  weakness  so  far  as  to  request  that  if  it  was 
necessary  to  keep  constant  watch  over  him,  the 
sentries  might  not  wear  their  uniforms ;  but  in 
this  request  he,  of  course,  did  not  succeed. 
However,  to  humour  him,  the  admiral  allowed 
the  officer  of  the  guard,  who  lived  in  the  house, 
to  wear  plain  clothes. 

Bonaparte  leads  a  secluded  life,  few  or  none 
ever  going  near  him,  although  no  person  of  re- 
spectability has  been  refused  a  pass  when  asked 
for,  but  so  little  is  he  now  thought  of,  that  his 
name  is  seldom  or  never  mentioned  except  on 
the  arrival  of  a  ship ;  indeed,  the  inhabitants 
express  so  little  curiosity  that  two-thirds  of  them 
have  not  yet  seen  him  (although  he  has  been  at 


228  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

St.  Helena  eight  months),  nor  do  they  ever 
seem  inclined  to  go  a  hundred  yards  out  of  their 
way  for  that  purpose.  Even  Mrs.  Wilkes,  the 
wife  of  the  late  governor,  although  she  was  six 
months  in  the  island  after  he  arrived,  went 
away  without  seeing  him,  whereas  the  curiosity 
of  the  passengers  going  home  from  India  has 
almost  exceeded  credibility. 

He  spends  most  of  the  forenoon  in  the  house, 
and  gives  out  that  he  is  occupied  in  writing  his 
life  ;  he  breakfasts  at  eleven,  and  dines  at  seven. 
At  first  he  seemed  determined  to  lead  the  life 
of  a  gentleman  and  encourage  society,  for  which 
purpose  he  invited  different  people  to  dinner, 
and  attempted  to  imitate  English  manners,  but 
after  the  first  fortnight  he  suddenly  relinquished 
this  system,  and  ever  since  he  has  confined 
himself  to  his  abject  followers,  whom  I  may  say 
he  tyrannises  over,  and  whose  servility  is  more 
abject  than  an  Englishman  who  has  not  witnessed 
it  can  possibly  conceive. 

The  rough  sketch  here  placed  of  his  person  l 
will  give  an  idea  of  it.  He  is  portrayed  leaning 
against  one  of  the  guns  on  the  quarter-deck  of 
the  Northumberland  speaking  earnestly  to  Mare"- 
chal  Bertrand.  His  countenance  has  something 
1  This  sketch  does  not  accompany  the  manuscript. 


THE   FINEST   OF  GEORGE   CRUlCKSHANK's   ST.    HELENA   CARICATURES. 


Tojacepage  229. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      229 

in  it  very  remarkable,  but  nothing  peculiarly 
commanding,  and  this  sketch  flatters  him  both 
as  to  age  and  appearance.  He  is  5  feet  7  J  inches 
high,  stout  made,  and  rather  corpulent ;  he  has 
a  full,  round,  fattish  face ;  darkish-brown  cropped 
hair,  thin  on  the  forepart  of  the  head,  and  always 
dishevelled ;  small  eyebrows,  very  light  gray 
round  eyes,  rather  large  than  otherwise  ;  a  nose 
moderately  long,  inclined  to  aquiline ;  mouth 
small,  with  good  small  teeth  ;  chin  rather  fat, 
turning  upward,  which  gives  a  peculiar  cast 
of  countenance  ;  sallow  complexion,  without 
whiskers  ;  very  short  neck ;  stout  shoulders  in- 
clined to  be  round  ;  corpulent  body,  large  hips 
and  thighs,  with  a  well-formed  leg  and  foot.  His 
age  was  forty- seven  on  the  fifteenth  of  August 
last.  His  health  is  perfectly  good,  although 
he  takes  but  very  moderate  exercise  ;  indeed, 
it  was  a  subject  of  surprise  during  the  passage 
out,  as  it  is  now,  that  from  the  life  of  inactivity 
he  led,  and  the  quantity  and  description  of  food 
he  ate  (and  does  eat),  that  his  health  should 
continue  so  good  as  never  to  appear  to  suffer 
the  least  inconvenience,  or  his  vigour  to  be  the 
least  impaired. 

During  the  passage  he  constantly  wore  a  low 
cocked  hat,  with  a  small  tricoloured  cockade,  a 


230  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

green  uniform  coat  trimmed  with  red,  a  pair  of 
large  gold  epaulets,  the  facing  of  the  coat  cut 
away  from  the  breast,  and  tapering  to  a  point 
behind ;  I  the  collar  buttoned  close  round  the 
throat,  so  as  not  to  allow  even  the  neck  handker- 
chief to  be  seen.  On  the  left  breast  he  wore  a 
large  silver  star  of  the  order  of  the  Legion  of 
Honour,  and  from  the  button-hole  the  order  of 
the  Iron  Crown,  and  a  Dutch  order  ;  under  the 
coat  a  broad  red  ribbon  similar  to  the  order  of 
the  Bath  ;  white  kerseymere  breeches,  silk  stock- 
ings, shoes  and  buckles. 

He  generally  walks  with  one  hand  in  his 
breeches-pocket  and  the  other  in  his  coat-pocket. 
He  occasionally  takes  snuff  in  moderation  from 
an  oblong  box  of  dark  green  stone,  lined  with 
gold,  and  set  with  four  antique  silver  medals  on 
the  top,  and  a  small  gold  one  in  front.  These 
medals,  Madame  Bertrand  told  me,  Bonaparte 
himself  found  at  Rome ;  2  the  silver  ones  bear 
the  heads  of  Agrippa,  Sylla,  Pompey  the  Great, 
and  Julius  Caesar,  the  gold  that  of  Timoleon. 
Since  he  has  been  on  shore  he  has  substituted 

1  This  was  his  favourite  uniform,  that  of  a  colonel  of  the 
Chasseurs  of  the  Guard. — J.  H.  R. 

2  This   is   more  than   doubtful.     Napoleon  never   was   at 
Rome.     See  Madelin,  "La  Rome  de  Napoleon,"  p.  161. — 
J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      231 

a  plain  coat,  with  the  star,  for  the  uniform 
one,  and  he  wears  military  boots  of  a  morn- 
ing ;  in  other  respects  his  dress  continues  the 
same. 

His  character  is  difficult  to  be  defined,  but 
from  what  I  have  seen,  learned,  and  heard,  I 
think  Miot,  in  his  "  Me"moires  de  1'Expedition  en 
Egypte,"  gives  a  very  accurate  description  of  him 
when  he  says  :  J 

"  He  understands  enough  of  mankind  to  dazzle 
the  weak,  to  dupe  the  vain,  overawe  the  timid, 
and  to  make  the  wicked  his  instruments,  but  of 
all  beyond  this  Bonaparte  is  grossly  and  totally 
ignorant." 

Greatness  of  mind  or  character,  in  my  opinion, 
he  possesses  not,  very  frequently  acting  the  part 
of  a  spoilt  child.  Feeling  I  consider  him  devoid 
of.  Every  religion  is  alike  to  him,  and  did  I 
believe  there  existed  such  a  being  as  an  atheist, 
I  should  say  Bonaparte  is  that  being.  Of  those 
about  him  he  seems  neither  to  care  nor  feel  for 
the  privations  they  undergo  from  their  blind  and 
infatuated  attachment  to  him,  which  many  of  his 
actions  prove,  and  which  the  following  circum- 
stance, which  occurred  during  the  passage  out, 

1  It  should  be  remembered  that  Miot  was  very  hostile  to 
Napoleon. — J.  H.  R. 


232  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

will  show.  *  Madame  Bertrand  had  been  confined 
to  her  cabin  by  serious  illness  for  ten  days  or  a 
fortnight.  On  her  appearing  in  the  cabin,  we  all 
congratulated  her  on  her  recovery.  This  was  in 
the  forenoon,  and  about  two  o'clock  Bonaparte 
came  into  the  cabin,  and  sat  down  to  play  at 
chess  with  General  Montholon.  At  this  time 
Madame  Bertrand  was  below,  but  soon  after 
made  her  appearance,  seemingly  to  pay  her 
devoirs  to  this  once  great  man.  Putting  on  one 
of  her  best  smiles,  she  approached  the  table 
where  he  was  playing,  and  where  she  stood  by 
his  side  silent  for  some  time,  no  doubt  in  anxious 
expectation  of  receiving  the  Emperor's  congratu- 
lations, which  would  have  amply  repaid  all 
sufferings  she  had  undergone.  But  in  this,  dis- 
appointment alone  was  her  portion,  for  he  merely 
stared  her  steadfastly  in  the  face,  and  then  con- 
tinued his  game  of  chess  without  taking  the 
slightest  further  notice.  She,  evidently  piqued, 
quitted  the  table  and  came  over  to  the  other  side 
of  the  cabin,  where  she  sat  by  me  on  the  sofa 
until  dinner  was  announced,  when  the  admiral, 

1  This  estimate  of  Napoleon  is  not  unlike  that  formed 
by  Colonel  Basil  Jackson,  after  seeing  a  good  deal  of  the 
Longwood  household.  See  his  "  Notes  and  Reminiscences  of 
a  Staff  Officer,"  pp.  176-8. — J.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      233 

as  he  usually  did,  handed  her  to  her  seat.  Even 
sitting  down  at  table  he  took  not  the  slightest 
notice  of  her,  but  began  eating  his  dinner. 
During  the  dinner,  missing  the  bottle  of  claret 
which  usually  stood  before  him,  and  Madame 
Bertrand,  ever  watchful  of  his  motions,  having 
handed  him  one  which  was  near  her,  he  very 
condescendingly  exclaimed,  "Ah!  comment  se 
porte  madame  ? "  and  then  very  deliberately 
continued  his  meal.  This,  and  this  alone,  was 
all  the  notice  the  long  and  serious  illness  of  his 
favourite  drew  forth.1 

April  15,  1816. — Lieutenant  -  General  Sir 
Hudson  Lowe  arrived  in  the  Phaeton,  and  took 
the  command  as  Governor  of  St.  Helena,  to 
whom  Sir  George  Cockburn  made  over  his 
charge  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  all  his 
followers,  and  who  immediately  adopted  every 
measure  which  had  been  taken  by  Sir  George 
Cockburn  for  the  safe  custody  of  this  personage, 
and  which  are  such  as  to  render  his  escape  next 
to  an  impossibility.  Sir  H.  Lowe  brought  out 
permission  for  such  of  Bonaparte's  followers  to 
return  to  Europe  as  might  wish  so  to  do,  but 

1  Mme.  Bertrand  was  not  liked  by  Napoleon,  owing  to 
her  spasmodic  ways  and  her  endeavour  to  dissuade  Bertrand 
from  going  to  St.  Helena. — J.  H.  R. 


234  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

after  some  little  hesitation  they  all  signed  a  paper 
declaring  their  determination  to  remain,  Marechal 
Bertrand  inserting  a  saving  clause  for  himself 
and  Madame  Bertrand,  expressing  their  wish  to 
remain  only  a  twelvemonth.1 

June  17-19. — Rear- Admiral  Sir  Pulteney  Mal- 
colm arrived  in  the  Newcastle  as  Sir  George 
Cockburn's  successor,  and  all  the  necessary 
documents  having  been  made  over  to  him  as 
naval  commander-in-chief,  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  1 9th  we  quitted  St.  Helena,  after  a  residence 
there  of  rather  more  than  eight  months,  the  latter 
two  of  which  were  spent  in  anxious  expectation 
of  our  relief.2  St.  Helena,  from  its  situation, 
composition,  and  picturesque  appearance,  is  per- 
haps a  place  the  most  singular  which  navigation 
has  presented  to  the  curious  observance  of  man. 
It  is  situated  between  the  two  tropics,  in  latitude 
15°  53'  S.  and  longitude  5°  43'  W.  The  atmo- 
sphere is  temperate,  with  a  continued  southerly 
breeze.  The  thermometer  in  the  country  seldom 
exceeds  75°,  or  is  seldom  below  60°  Fahrenheit; 
in  the  valley  it  is  generally  from  70  to  80. 

1  For  Sir  H.  Lowe,  see  "  Napoleon's  Captivity  in  Relation  to 
Sir  Hudson  Lowe,"  byR.  C.  Seaton  (London,  1904). — J.  H.  R. 

2  For  Sir  P.  Malcolm,  see  "A  Diary  of  St.  Helena  (1816, 
1817),"  by  Lady  Malcolm  (London,  1899).—;.  H.  R. 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.   HELENA      235 

During  our  eight  months'  residence  we  experienced 
very  little  variation,  and  had  continued  rains. 
The  climate  is  by  no  means  so  healthy  as  it  is 
generally  described  to  be,  the  children  being 
sickly,  and  the  adults  suffering  from  the  liver, 
of  which  complaint  many  of  our  men  died.1 

Nothing  can  possibly  be  less  prepossessing, 
nay,  more  horribly  forbidding,  than  the  first 
appearance  of  this  isolated  and  apparently  burnt- 
up  barren  rock,  which  promises  neither  refresh- 
ment nor  pleasure.  To  this  terrific  and  dis- 
gusting external  appearance  (causing  a  wonderful 
contrast)  I  attribute  in  a  great  measure  the  many 
flattering  and  flowery  descriptions  which  have 
been  published  of  the  interior  beauties  of  this 
island,  none  of  which  was  realised  in  my  ideas, 
and  it  is  contrast  alone  which  in  my  opinion 
makes  the  scenery  agreeable,  the  whole  of  which 
(having  visited  every  part  of  the  island)  is  far 
too  highly  coloured  in  every  publication  I  have 
read.  Some  of  the  scenes  I  admit  to  be 
picturesquely  grand,  and  some  spots  to  be  highly 

1  The  high  land  around  Longwood  is  far  more  healthy  than 
Jamestown ;  so  Surgeon  Henry  found  by  comparing  the  health 
of  the  troops  at  the  two  stations.  The  health  of  the  Boer 
prisoners  of  war  while  at  Deadwood  (near  Longwood)  was 
excellent.— J.  H.  R. 


236  NAPOLEONS  LAST   VOYAGES 

verdant,  and  to  those  who  have  spent  the  better 
part  of  their  lives  in  India  a  sojourn  here  for  a 
fortnight  is  certainly  a  relief.  These  may  view 
the  scenery  with  rapture  and  delight,  but  the 
residence  of  a  month  at  St.  Helena  would  be 
tediously  long  to  any  one  who  has  been 
accustomed  to  live  in  Europe.  This  island  is 
about  twenty-eight  miles  in  circumference.  James 
Town  (the  only  one  in  the  island)  is  situated  in 
a  deep  valley  of  about  a  mile  in  length,  the 
houses  are  commodious,  and  have  a  clean  appear- 
ance. From  Ladder  Hill,  which  is  about  nine 
hundred  feet  perpendicular,  to  the  eastward  the 
coup  doeil  of  the  town  and  anchorage  is  not  only 
unique,  but  to  some  terrific,  as  the  immense  over- 
hanging rocks  seem  ready  to  escape  from  each 
other,  and  crush  everything  below.  The  town, 
and  indeed  most  part  of  the  island,  is  well 
supplied  with  good  spring  water,  one  of  the 
principal  sources  of  which  is  Diana's  Peak,  the 
highest  spot  on  the  island,  and  which  is  computed 
about  two  thousand  six  hundred  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  The  interior  of  the  island 
abounds  with  vegetables  of  the  best  quality,  and 
the  poultry  is  superior  in  flavour  to  any  I  have 
ever  met  with.  The  inhabitants  are  friendly, 
obliging,  and  much  inclined  to  hospitality,  but, 


TAKING  NAPOLEON  TO  ST.  HELENA      237 

owing  to  the  generality  of  them  marrying  young, 
and  having  large  families,  they  have  not  in  their 
power  to  indulge  therein.  The  ladies  are  lively, 
agreeable,  and  many  of  them  pretty,  and,  although 
self-taught,  are  not  devoid  of  accomplishments. 
They  are  extremely  domesticated,  and  it  requires 
a  residence  of  some  time  to  become  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  different  families.  The 
hospitality  of  Sir  George  Cockburn  made  him  an 
universal  favourite,  and  his  departure  caused  a 
general  regret,  which  was  strongly  testified  on 
the  crowded  beach  as  we  embarked. 

June  23. — The  Bucephalus  accompanied  us  to 
Ascension,  when  we  arrived  on  the  morning  of 
the  23rd,  having  seen  it  the  preceding  evening. 
This  island  was  hitherto  uninhabited,  but  since 
the  arrival  of  Bonaparte  at  St.  Helena,  it  has 
been  taken  possession  of  and  garrisoned,  to 
prevent  ships  harbouring  there  to  assist  the  pos- 
sible escape  thereby  of  Bonaparte,  for  which  it  is 
well  adapted,  being  situated  directly  to  leeward 
of  St.  Helena.  Water  has  been  found  in  the 
interior,  and  near  the  spring  some  land  has  been 
cultivated  with  success. 

June  2  ^-August  3. — The  Bucephalus  sailed  for 
England,  for  which  place  we  also  sailed  the 
following  morning.  We  made  the  Cape  de  Verde 


238  NAPOLEON'S  LAST   VOYAGES 

Islands  on  July  6,  on  the  2Oth  the  Western 
Islands,  and  on  the  3rd  of  August  we  arrived  at 
Spithead,  thus  completing  twelve  months  on  a 
voyage  which,  from  peculiarity  of  circumstances, 
was  far  more  interesting  than  any  ever  likely 
again  to  occur,  at  least  to 

JOHN  R.  GLOVER. 

August  3,  1816. — N.B. — As  the  foregoing 
narrative  was  kept  for  my  own  gratification,  and 
that  of  my  friends,  and  being  particularly  averse 
that  any  part  of  it  should  get  into  print,  I  most 
particularly  request  of  those  to  whom  I  may  lend 
it,  that  they  will  on  no  account  copy  any  part  of 
it,  or  allow  any  one  so  to  do. 


THE    END. 


INDEX 


Aboukir  Bay,  Battle  of,  206 

Acre,  112,  174 

Adams,  H.,  52 

Africa,  186,  191,  193 

Aix,  112 

Ajaccio,  64 

Alexander,  202 

Alexander  I.,  Czar,  37,  42,  151, 

152,  iS3;  155;  158,  178,  182 
Alps,  The,  57 

America,   27,  59,  60,  104,  129, 

130;  155 

Amiens,   Peace    of,  50;    town 

of,  184 

Anas,  Bay  of,  97 
Ann,  Grand  Duchess,  152 
Antwerp,  53,  62,  88 
Arcis,  80 
Arnano,  no 
Ascension  Island,  237 
Aube,  8 1 

Augereau,  General,  86 
Austerlitz,  The,  43 
Austria,  87,  91,  142,   149,    151, 

153,  214;  Emperor  of,  158, 
167 


Auxerre,  112 

Azores,  Islands  of  the,  95 

B 

Baden,  Duke  of,  218 
Bailey,  Lieutenant,  105,  106 
Balcombe    family,    The,     222, 

223,  224 
Baltic,  The,  199 
Bardadoes,  The,  95 
Bareges,  105 
Barras,  General,  213 
Bassano,  Duke  of,  no 
Bastia,  64 

Baylen  (Andalusia),  109 
Beattie,  Captain,  117 
Beauharnais  Eugene,  44,  153 
Belgic  Netherlands,  The,  62 
Bellerophon,The,  12, 14, 117, 118 
Belliard,  General,  no 
Bentinck,    Lord    William,  49, 

157 

Bernadotte,  General,  103 
Berry  Head,  Devon,  13 
Bertrand,  Madame,  13,  21,  115, 

126,  137,  208,  224,  230,  232 

233;  234 


239 


240 


INDEX 


Bertrand,  Comte,  40,  41,  43, 
46,  47>  49>  52>  69,  70,  77,  107, 
108,  109,  in,  112,  115,  118, 
119,  126,  130,  132,  134,  135, 
145,  161,  170,  183,  197,  198, 

206,  221,  224,  228,  234 

Berthier,  General,  86 
Bingham,  Sir  George,  115,  116, 

121,  125,  128,  132,  137,  208 
Bliicher,  General,  80,  81,  148 
Bonaparte,  Charles,  13 
Bonaparte,  Jerome,  168 
Bonaparte,  Joseph,  50,  184 
Bonaparte,  Louis,  59 
Bonaparte,  Lucien,  216 
Bordeaux,  53 
Borghese,     Pauline,     Princess 

(Bonaparte),  99 
Bouc,  61 
Boulogne,  91,  94,  97,  98,  140, 

192 
Bourbons,  The,  29,  53,  80,  150, 

159,  167 

Bourmont,  General,  147 
Brest,  59,  62,  91,  94,  95,  97,  98, 

141,  194 

Brienne,  64,  80,  in 
Britain,  Great,  see  England 
British   Army,    no,    149,    158, 

226 
British  East   India   Company, 

88 

Brueys,  Admiral,  202 
Bruix,  Admiral,  202 
Bucentaure,  The,  91 
Bucephalus,  The,  116,  191,  209, 

237 
Biilow,  General,  81,  103 


Cadiz,  17,  92,  95,  97,  98,  141 

Cadoudal,  M.,  217,  218 

Calder,  Sir  Robert,  90,  96 

Calvi,  64,  65 

Cambronne,  General,  101 

Campbell,  Colonel  Neill,  12,  36, 
38,  39,  40,  41,  42,  43,  45,  49, 
52,  55,  68,  69,  77,  78,  84,  88, 
107,  108,  109,  no,  in,  112; 
Journal  of,  73,  74, 77 

Camperdown,  Battle  of,  44 

Campo  Formio,  214 

Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  237 

Capraja,  Isle  of,  66 

Caroline,  Queen,  185 

Carteaux,  General,  210 

Carthagena,  91 

Castlereagh,  Lord  Viscount,  36, 
42,  62,  86,  1 08,  no 

Cathcart,  Viscount,  38 

Catherine,  Grand  Duchess,  152 

Ceylon,  The,  116,  191 

"  Chapeau  Rouge,"  Frejus,  40 

Chaptal,  M.,  71,  73,  92 

Charles  of  Spain,  132 

Chatham,  141,  192 

Chatillon-sur-Seine,  80 

Cherbourg,  61,  169 

Cintra,  54 

Clam,  Comte,  43, 49,  68,  71, 107 

Clausel,  General,  207,  208 

Cliffe  peninsula,  16 

Cockburn,  Sir  George,  Rear 
Admiral,  15,  17, 115, 116, 118, 
119,  141,233,234,237;  diary 

Of,  2O,  22 

Coghlan,  Captain,  65 


INDEX 


241 


Collingwood,  Lord,  97 
Colmars,  212 
Combermere,  Lord,  208 
Constant,  M.,  Napoleon's  valet, 

H3 

Copenhagen,  60,  199 

Cornwallis,  Lord  Admiral,  96, 
184 

"  Correspondence "  of  Na- 
poleon, 16,  93,  94 

Corsica,  49,  199,  210 

Corunna,  96 

Cosmao,  Admiral,  143 

Coulis,  M.,  113,  114 

Courier,  The,  27 

Cromwell,  50 

Curafoa,  The,  77 


Dalheme,  General,  68,  77, 85 

Danes,  The,  199 

David,  M.,  33 

Daudet,  E.,  32 

Denman,  Captain,  191 

Denmark,  60 

Dennewitz,  Battle  of,  103 

De  Vins,  Austrian  General,  211, 

213 

Devon,  Captain,  191 
Dickens,  Charles,  13 
Directory,  The,  214,  215 
Djezza  Pacha,  174,  178 
Dobree,  Captain,  191 
Dominica,  Island  of,  93 
Dover,  Straits  of,  91 
Dresden,  61 
Drouot,  Comte,  43,  49,  68,  77, 

90,107 


Dryade,  French  frigate,  39,  42, 

104 

Dumanoir,  Admiral,  143,  203 
Dunkirk,  195 

Dupont,  General,  109,  112 
Duroc,  Marechal,  182 
Dutch  Fleet,  91 


Egypt,  33,  129,  157,  160,  161, 

l62,  171,  202,  206 

Egyptian  Expedition,  214,  215 
Elba,  Island  of,  9,  12,  14,  36, 

37>  4i>  49,  99,  104,  !57>  *73 
Elbe,  The,  17,  44,  59,  62 
Emeriau,  Admiral,  112 
Enghien  Due  d',  19,  218,  219 
England  (Great  Britain),  54,  87, 

94,   102,  134,  139,    142,   150, 

151,  163,  167,  1 88,  189,   204  ; 

invasion  of,  88-90,  186,  192, 

194-214 

Erfurth,  151,  158 
Espoir,  The,  27,  28 
Essling,  Prince  of,  see  Massena 
Essonne,  83 
Eurotas,  The,  117 
Euryalus,  The,  28,  29,  30,  31 
Eylau,  Battle  of,  71 


Falmouth,  128 

Ferdinand  of  Spain,  133,  134 
Ferrajo,  Porto,  69,  74,  79 
Ferret,  The,  126,  191,  220 
Ferrol,  94,  96,  97,  98,  142 
Finisterre,  Cape,  91,  97 
Flahaut,  Comte,  108 


16 


242 


INDEX 


Flushing,  55 

Fontainebleau,  14,  37,  108, 113  ; 

Treaty  of,  42,  87 
"  Foreign  Reminiscences,"  51, 

92 

Fouche,  M.,  216 
Fox,  Mr.,  184 
France,  54,  85,  87,  88,  150,  163, 

199,  214,  215,  218 
Frejus,  14,  33,  39,  40,  44,  99, 

113,  114,  202 
French  Navy,  63,  201-205 
French  people,  147,  150,  159, 

1 68,  192 
Funchal,  164,  166 


Gasparin,  Commissioner,  210 
Gantheaume,  Admiral,  96,  97, 

141,  201,  202 
Genoa,  49,  104 
George  III.,  158 
Georges,  M.,  216,  217 
Gerard,  General,  81 
Germane wki,  Baron,  107 
Gibraltar,  54,  92 
Glover,  Mr.  Secretary,  n,  115, 

238 ;  the   manuscript    diary 

of,  20, 21,  238 

Goldsmith,  Mr.  L.,  143,  192,  193 
Gomera  Island,  169 
Good  Hope,  Cape  of,  138,  156 
Gourdon,  Rear  Admiral,  96, 97 
Gourgaud,  General,  n,  12,  21, 

115,  119,  126,  128,  130,  132, 

159 
Gouvion  St.  Cyr,  General,  103 

Grandelina,  Admiral,  96,  97 


Gravelines,  195 

Gravina,  Admiral,  92,  97 

Greatly,  Captain,  117,  121 

Grenoble,  145 

Grouchy,  General,  131,  147,  160 

Guadaloupe,  93 

Guernsey,  Island  of,  126,  169 

H 

Hamburg,  62 

Hamilton,  Captain,  162,  191 

Harrison,  Mr.  Birge,  113 

Hastings,  Lieutenant,  35,  68 

Havana,  92 

Havannah,  The,  126,  162,  164, 

191,  220 
Havre,  135 
Henry,  Surgeon,  225 
Holland,  43,  59,  62,  88 
Holland,  Lord,  51,  62,  92 
Hood,  Lord,  56 
Houssaye,  M.,  85 


I 

Icarus,  The,  126,  191,  220 

India,  95,  127,  190 

Indies,  East,  63,  93 

Indies,  West,  63,  89,  92,  95,  163 

"Influence  of  Sea    Power  on 

the  French  Revolution  and 

Empire,"  54 
Ireland,  44,  52,   90,   194,   195, 

204 
Italy,  17,  156,  212,  214 

J 

Jackson,  Colonel  Basil,  12,  232 
Jacobins,  The,  146 


INDEX 


243 


Jaffa,  174,  176 
Jamaica,  Island  of,  95 
James,  Mr.,  93,  97 
Jamestown  (St.   Helena),   221, 

224,  235,  236 
Jena,  Battle  of,  103 
Jersey,  Island  of,  169 
Jerusalem,  102 
Josephine,  The   Empress,   152 

153 
Junot,  General,  103 

K 

Keith,  Lord,  117,  118,  137 
Kent,  89 

Kleber,  General,  160,  161 
Koller,  Baron,  43,  46,  47, 49, 58, 

63,  66,  69, 70,  73,  77,  107, 109, 

no 
Kolly,  Baron  de,  133,  134 


"  La  Jeunesse  de  Napoleon,"  65 
Lallemand,  Rear  Admiral,  96, 

97,98 
Landor,  12 
Larrey,  M.,  177 
Las  Cases,  Comte,  n,  20,  115, 

119,  126,   130,  132,  183,  196, 

222 

"  La  Terreur  Blanche,"  32 
La  Vendee,  212 
Leipsic,  Battle  of,  207 
Leoben,  214 
Ligny,  Battle  of,  148 
Lithuanians,  The,  189 
Loano,  212 


Locker,  Mr.,  77 
Lodi,  Battle  of,  213 
Lofft,  Mr.  Capel,  117 
London,  16,  89, 186,  195 
Longone,  77,  78,  79 
Longwood  House,  n,  221,222, 

224,  225,  227,  235 
Lorient,  95 
Louis    XVIII.,    68,    145,    146, 

155 

Louise  of  Prussia,  19,  178-182 
Lowe,  Sir  Hudson,  233 
Lynedoch,  Lord,  208 
Lyons,  53,  86,  112 
Lyons,  Gulf  of,  27 

M 

Mack,  General,  143 
Macpherson,  poet,  136 
Madeira,   Island  of,   126,   128, 

i3f  164 

Madison,  Mr.,  129 
Magallon,  M.,  215 
Magdebourg,  178,  179,  182 
Magon  de  Clos-Dore,  Admiral, 

96 

Mahon,  Captain,  54 
Mainz  (Mayence),  93 
Maitland,  Captain,  12,  119 
Majestueux,  The,  92 
Malcolm,  Lady,  12 
Malcolm,  Sir    Pulteney,   Rear 

Admiral,  234 
Malta,  51 

Mansel,  Captain,  162 
Mantua,  44 
Marie  Louise,  Empress,  61,  151, 

157 


244 


INDEX 


Marmont,  Duke  of  Ragusa,  83, 

84,  85,  86,  103,  207 
Marseilles,  28,  30,  35,  36,  38,  39, 

53,  108,  112 

Martinique,  92,  93,  95,  141 
Massena,  General,  103,  104 
Mediterranean,  54 
"  Memorial    de    St.    Helene," 

ii 

Menou,  General,  161,  213 
"  Mes  Souvenirs  sur  Napoleon," 

7i,  75.  92 
Metternich,  16 
Mexico,  60 

Milan,  93  ;  Decree  of,  59 
Miot  de  Melito,  16,  177,  231 
Missiessy,  Admiral,  92,  93,  95, 

96 
Montcabri,  Comte  de,  39,  42, 

104 
Montholon,  General,  n,  20, 115, 

119,  126,  129,  132,  164,  170, 

232 
Montholon,   Madame,  13,  115, 

126 

Montmartre,  85 
Moreau,  M.,  216,  217 
Mortier,  General,  85 
Moscow,  1123,    124,    156,    188, 

207 
Mulgrave  Fort  (Toulon),  210 

N 

Nantes,  53 
Napier,  Captain  Charles,  28,  29, 

3i>  32,  39 

Naples,  Queen  of,  Marie  Caro- 
lina, 157 


Napoleon — 
Abdication  of,  31,  33 
America,  on,  59,  60 
American  War,  on  the,  130 
Amiens,  on  Peace  of,  50-52 
Appearance    at    St.   Helena, 

229 
Arcis  to  Brienne,  on  march 

from,  80-82 
Augereau,  on  treachery  of, 

86 
Balcombe     family,     resides 

with  the,  222,  224 
Bertrand,  Madame,  his  treat- 
ment of,  232,  233 
Character  of,  9-20,  231-233 
Egyptian  campaign,  on  the, 

160-162,  171 
Elba,  departure  for,  36-49  ; 

voyage  to,  50-68  ;  landing 

at,  70;   at,  70-114  ;   return 

from,  145,  146 
Enghien,   Due    d',    on,    19, 

218 
England,  The   Invasion    of, 

on,    88-90,    139-142,    186, 

192,  194,  214 
English  Church,  questions  on 

the,  135,  136 

Ferdinand  of  Spain,  on,  132 
French  Navy,  on  the,  62-64, 

199,  201-205 
French  people,  on  the,  147, 

150,  159,  168,  173,  192 
Government    representative, 

on,  166,  167 
Jaffa,  The  poisoning  story,  on, 

174-178 


INDEX 


245 


Napoleon  (continued) — 
Life,  gives   account  of  his, 

209-219 

Line,  Crossing  the,  198 
Longwood  House,  at,  225-228 
Marie  Louise,  on    marriage 

with,  151-154 
Marmont,   on    treachery  of, 

83-85 
Naples,  Queen  of,  advice  to, 

157 

Northumberland)     The,     re- 
moval to,  119 
Paris    fortifications,  on  the, 

191 

Paul,  Czar,  on,  189,  190 
Prussia,  The  Queen  of,  on, 

178-182 
Russian  campaign,  on,  123, 

1 88,  207 

St.  Helena,  arrived  at,  220 
Toulon,  Siege  of,  on,  56 
Trafalgar,  Naval  preparations 

after,  17,  1 8 

Wagram,  Battle  of,  on,  207 
Walcheren,  The,  expedition, 

on,  55 

Waterloo,    The    Battle    of, 
on,  130,  131,  147-149*  I59> 
160 
"Napoleon    at    Fontainebleau 

and  Elba,"  55 

"  Napoleon's  Last  Voyages,"  21 
Napoleonic  Studies,  60,  8 1 
"  Naval  History,"  James,  93 
Nelson,  Lord,  16,  60,  93, 94,  95, 

199,  203,  206 
Netherlands,  The,  17 


Nevers,  in 

Ney,  Marshal,  103,  146 

Nice,  105 

Niddry,  Lord,  208 

Nile,  Battle  of  the,  203 

Northumberland,  The,    12,    14, 

18,  21,    116,   118,   191,    196, 

228 


O'Gorum,  Sergeant,  72 
O'Hara,  General,  56 
O'Meara,  Mr.  Barry,  12,  137 
Ord,  Sir  John,  92 
Ossian,  136 
Ottoman  Porte,  127 


Paris,  18,  31,  37,  81,  82,  83,  85, 
134,  152,  173,  185,   191,  211, 

212,   21^,   2l6 

Paris,  Treaty  of,  87 

Paul,  Czar,  189,  190 

Pauline,  Princess,  76 

Pellew,  Sir  Edward,  66,  77,  104 

Peninsula,  The,  105 

Persia,  190 

Peruvian,  The,    126,   155,  191, 

208 

Petit,  General,  in 
Phaeton,  The,  233 
Pianosa,  Island  of,  74 
Piombino,  69,  108,  112 
Pichegru,  M.,  216,  217 
Plymouth,  21 

Poland,  44,  62,  87,  102,  159,  188 
Poles,  The,  158,  189 
Pomegue,  Island  of,  29 


246 


INDEX 


Poniatowski,  188 
Porto  Rico,  92 
Porto  Santo,  164 
Portsmouth,  116 
Portuguese,  The,  173 
Prince  Rupert's  Fort,  93 
Protestant  Religion,  The,  162 
Provence,  32 
Prussia,  Emperor  of,  158,  166, 

178 

Prussia,  Queen  of,  19,  178 
Prussia,  178,  179,  181 
Prussians,  The,  80,  147,  159 


Querel  (Querelle),  216 


Rtcits,  The,  n 

Redpole,  The,  126,  191,  219 

Redwing,  The,  27,  28 

Regent,  The   Prince,  36,   133, 

185 

Rennell,  Rev,  George,  135 
Rhine,  The,  17,  92 
Rhone,  The,  61,  112 
Rich,  Captain,  191 
Rion,  73,  74 
Rivoli,  The,  61 
Rochefort,  91,  92,  94,  98 
Roman  Catholicism,  79 
Rome,  230 
Rosebery,  Lord,  10 
Ross,    Captain,   115,   116,   125, 

126,  128,  191 
Russia,  87,  142,  149,  153,  158, 

159,  188 


Saint  Antonio,  Island  of,  172 

Saint  Bernard  Mountain,  78 

Saint  Dizier,  81 

Saint  Etienne,  53 

Saint  Florent,  Gulf  of,  66 

Saint  Helena,  Island  of,  9,  10, 

ir,  12,  15,  118,  93,  115,  207 

209,  219,  220,  225,  234-237 
Saint  Lucia,  93 
Saint  Petersburg,  123 
Saint  Tropez,  37,  38,  39,  40,  108 
Saint  Vincent,  Cape,  97 
Saliceti,  Commissioner,  210 
Sanhedrim,  The,  102 
San  Domingo,  Island  of,  52,  87, 

93,  163 
Savary,  19 

Savona,  58,  105,  106,  212 
Savoy,  211 
Saxony,  King  of,  159 
Scheldt,  The,  17,  62 
Schoovalof,  Prince,  43,  48, 109 
Schwarzenberg,  General,  80,  81, 

82,84 

Seeley,  Sir  John,  n 
Sicily,  157 

Sidmouth,  Lord,  50,  51 
Sinclair,  Major,  39 
Sinclair,  Sir  John,  27 
Smith,  Lieutenant,  48,  66 
Smith,    Sir    Sydney,   Admiral, 

in,  177 

Soult,  Marshal,  103,  131,  207 
Spain,  53,  54,  87,  91,  173  ;  King 

of,  173 

Spencer,  Hon.  Captain,  27 
Spithead,  238 


INDEX 


247 


Stirling,  Captain,  191 
Strasburg,  218 
Surinam,  93 
Sweden,  103 


Talleyrand,    Marshal,    19,    86, 

218 

Terrare  (Tarare),  53 
Texel,  The,  88,  94 
Tilsit,  Treaty  of,  60,  178,  179 
Tippoo  Saib,  127 
Tonnant,  The,  117 
Touche-Treville,  Admiral  de  la, 

91 

Toulon,  35,  56-60,  61,  62,  91, 
103,    105,    112 ;    Fleet,   124, 

2IO 

Towers,  Captain,  77 
Trafalgar,    Battle    of,    15,    17, 

<%>  H3 
Troyes,  81 

Truxo,  Comte,  43,  48,  109 
Turks,  The,  161 

U 

Undaunted,  The,  12,  14,  27,  29, 

42,  48,  72,  75,  99,  101 
Ussher,  Captain,  n,  14,  15,  16, 

38,    62,    99,    113,    114,    184; 

diary  of,  20 ;  note  on,  23-25 
Utrecht,  Treaty  of,  59 
Uxbridge,  Lord,  208 


Valence,  86 
Valencay,  133 


Vandeleur's  Brigade,  18 

Veitch,  Mr.,  165 

Venice,  61,  87 

Vergennes,  Chief   Minister  of 

France,  50 

Verhuel,  Dutch  Admiral,  44,  88 
Vidorieuse,  The,  39,  42,  114 
Vienna,  55,  157 
Vigo,  96,  98 
Villeneuve,  Admiral,  90,  91-98, 

143 

Vincent,  Colonel,  69 
Virgil,  73 
Vitry,  81 
Vivian  Brigade,  18 


W 

Walcheren  expedition,  55 
Waterloo,  Battle  of,  18, 130, 131, 

147-149,  159,  160 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  83,  148, 

1 60,  208 

Western  Island,  238 
Westropp,  Captain,  191 
Weymouth,  The,  126 
White,  Captain,  155,  191 
Wilkes,  Mrs.,  228 
Wilson,  Sir  Robert,  177 
Wintzingerode's  cavalry,  81 
Worcester,  16 


Zenobia,ThQ,  126,  128,  191,209, 

220 

Zephyr,  The,  26,  191 
Zuyder  Zee,  The,  62 


Ubc  Orcsbam  press, 

UNWIN  BROTHERS,  LIMITED, 
WOKING  AND  LONDON. 


LD  21-20m.5,'39 (9269s) 


YL  7bi4 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


